Compressive stress couples calcium signalling to translational control and proteostasis

Abstract

Compressive stress is a pervasive feature of solid tumour growth, and mechanical loading is known to activate calcium signalling through the mechanosensitive channel Piezo1. How this signal is converted into changes in cellular biosynthetic capacity, however, remains unclear. Here we show that compressive stress engages a Piezo1-dependent calcium checkpoint that reduces translational output with increasing mechanical load, independently of mTORC1 and the integrated stress response. Compression triggers Piezo1-dependent release of endoplasmic reticulum Ca2, activating eEF2 kinase to slow translational elongation. This same Ca2 signal drives mitochondrial remodelling and reactive oxygen species production, which reinforce translational repression through redox-dependent oxidation of the translation initiation factor eIF2{beta}. In parallel, Ca2-dependent AMPK activation triggers autophagic ribosome degradation, alleviating compression-induced macromolecular crowding and restoring cytoplasmic rheology despite sustained mechanical load. These mechanisms act at distinct levels of translational control: initiation, elongation and ribosome abundance; yet converge to limit biosynthetic output under compression. Consistent with a role for this pathway in tumour adaptation to mechanical constraint, eEF2K expression correlates with poor overall survival in a public PDAC patient dataset. Together, these findings define a mechano-metabolic checkpoint through which cells actively tune biosynthetic capacity to their physical environment.