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Abstract

Protein S-palmitoylation is a post-translational modification that plays a crucial role in cancer cells by regulating the function and localization of oncoproteins and tumor suppressor proteins. Here, we identify artemisinin (ART), a clinically approved antimalarial endoperoxide natural product with promising anticancer activities, as an inhibitor of the ER-residing palmitoyl transferase ZDHHC6 in cancer cells using a chemoproteomic approach. We show that ART covalently binds and inhibits ZDHHC6 to reduce palmitoylation of the oncogenic protein NRas, disrupt NRas subcellular localization, and attenuate the downstream pro-proliferative signaling cascades. Our study identifies artemisinin as a non-lipid-based palmitoylation inhibitor targeting a specific palmitoyl acyltransferase and provides valuable mechanistic insights into the anticancer activity of artemisinins that are currently being studied in human clinical trials for different cancers.