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Adaptive Reprogramming of De Novo Pyrimidine Synthesis Is a Metabolic Vulnerability in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Chemotherapy resistance is a major barrier to the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and strategies to circumvent resistance are required. Using in vitro and in vivo metabolic profiling of TNBC cells, we show that an increase in the abundance of pyrimidine nucleotides occurs in response to chemotherapy exposure. Mechanistically, elevation of pyrimidine nucleotides induced by chemotherapy is dependent on increased activity of the de novo pyrimidine synthesis pathway. Pharmacologic inhibition of de novo pyrimidine synthesis sensitizes TNBC cells to genotoxic chemotherapy agents by exacerbating DNA damage. Moreover, combined treatment with doxorubicin and leflunomide, a clinically approved inhibitor of the de novo pyrimidine synthesis pathway, induces regression of TNBC xenografts. Thus, the increase in pyrimidine nucleotide levels observed following chemotherapy exposure represents a metabolic vulnerability that can be exploited to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy for the treatment of TNBC.Significance: The prognosis for patients with TNBC with residual disease after chemotherapy is poor. We find that chemotherapy agents induce adaptive reprogramming of de novo pyrimidine synthesis and show that this response can be exploited pharmacologically, using clinically approved inhibitors of de novo pyrimidine synthesis, to sensitize TNBC cells to chemotherapy. Cancer Discov; 7(4); 391-9. ©2017 AACR.See related article by Mathur et al., p. 380This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 339.

SUBMITTER: Brown KK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5380483 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Adaptive Reprogramming of De Novo Pyrimidine Synthesis Is a Metabolic Vulnerability in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Brown Kristin K KK Spinelli Jessica B JB Asara John M JM Toker Alex A

Cancer discovery 20170302 4

Chemotherapy resistance is a major barrier to the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and strategies to circumvent resistance are required. Using in vitro and in vivo metabolic profiling of TNBC cells, we show that an increase in the abundance of pyrimidine nucleotides occurs in response to chemotherapy exposure. Mechanistically, elevation of pyrimidine nucleotides induced by chemotherapy is dependent on increased activity of the de novo pyrimidine synthesis p ...[more]

PMID: 28255083

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Project description:Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) chemoresistance hampers the ability to effectively treat patients. Identification of mechanisms driving chemoresistance can lead to strategies to improve treatment. Here, we revealed that protein arginine methyltransferase-1 (PRMT1) simultaneously methylates D-3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH), a critical enzyme in serine synthesis, and the glycolytic enzymes PFKFB3 and PKM2 in TNBC cells. 13C metabolic flux analyses showed that PRMT1-dependent methylation of these three enzymes diverts glucose toward intermediates in the serine-synthesizing and serine/glycine cleavage pathways, thereby accelerating the production of methyl donors in TNBC cells. Mechanistically, PRMT1-dependent methylation of PHGDH at R54 or R20 activated its enzymatic activity by stabilizing 3-phosphoglycerate binding and suppressing polyubiquitination. PRMT1-mediated PHGDH methylation drove chemoresistance independently of glutathione synthesis. Rather, activation of the serine synthesis pathway supplied α-ketoglutarate and citrate to increase palmitate levels through activation of fatty acid synthase (FASN). Increased palmitate induced protein S-palmitoylation of PHGDH and FASN to further enhance fatty acid synthesis in a PRMT1-dependent manner. Loss of PRMT1 or pharmacologic inhibition of FASN or protein S-palmitoyltransferase reversed chemoresistance in TNBC. Furthermore, IHC coupled with imaging MS in clinical TNBC specimens substantiated that PRMT1-mediated methylation of PHGDH, PFKFB3, and PKM2 correlates with chemoresistance and that metabolites required for methylation and fatty acid synthesis are enriched in TNBC. Together, these results suggest that enhanced de novo fatty acid synthesis mediated by coordinated protein arginine methylation and protein S-palmitoylation is a therapeutic target for overcoming chemoresistance in TNBC.SignificancePRMT1 promotes chemoresistance in TNBC by methylating metabolic enzymes PFKFB3, PKM2, and PHGDH to augment de novo fatty acid synthesis, indicating that targeting this axis is a potential treatment strategy.

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Adaptive Reprogramming of De Novo Pyrimidine Synthesis Is a Metabolic Vulnerability in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Publications

Adaptive Reprogramming of <i>De Novo</i> Pyrimidine Synthesis Is a Metabolic Vulnerability in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

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