| 1. |
- Bivik Eding, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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MTH1 Inhibitors for the Treatment of Psoriasis
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Investigative Dermatology. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. - 0022-202X .- 1523-1747. ; 141:8, s. 2037-2048
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis, are characterized by changes in redox regulation. The MTH1 prevents the incorporation of oxidized nucleotides during DNA replication. Using MTH1 small-molecule inhibitors, we found induced apoptosis through 8-oxodeoxyguanosine triphosphate accumulation and DNA double-strand breaks after oxidative stress in normal and malignant keratinocytes. In psoriasis, we detected increased MTH1 expression in lesional skin and PBMCs compared with that in the controls. Using the imiquimod psoriasis mouse model, we found that MTH1 inhibition diminished psoriatic histological characteristics and normalized the levels of neutrophils and T cells in the skin and skin-draining lymph nodes. The inhibition abolished the expression of T helper type 17-associated cytokines in the skin, which was in line with decreased levels of IL-17-producing gd T cells in lymph nodes. In human keratinocytes, MTH1 inhibition prevented the upregulation of IL-17-downstream genes, which was independent of ROS-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, our data support MTH1 inhibition using small molecules suitable for topical application as a promising therapeutic approach to psoriasis.
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| 2. |
- Bonagas, Nadilly, et al.
(författare)
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Pharmacological targeting of MTHFD2 suppresses acute myeloid leukemia by inducing thymidine depletion and replication stress
- 2022
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Ingår i: NATURE CANCER. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2662-1347. ; 3:2, s. 156-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The folate metabolism enzyme MTHFD2 (methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase) is consistently overexpressed in cancer but its roles are not fully characterized, and current candidate inhibitors have limited potency for clinical development. In the present study, we demonstrate a role for MTHFD2 in DNA replication and genomic stability in cancer cells, and perform a drug screen to identify potent and selective nanomolar MTHFD2 inhibitors; protein cocrystal structures demonstrated binding to the active site of MTHFD2 and target engagement. MTHFD2 inhibitors reduced replication fork speed and induced replication stress followed by S-phase arrest and apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in vitro and in vivo, with a therapeutic window spanning four orders of magnitude compared with nontumorigenic cells. Mechanistically, MTHFD2 inhibitors prevented thymidine production leading to misincorporation of uracil into DNA and replication stress. Overall, these results demonstrate a functional link between MTHFD2-dependent cancer metabolism and replication stress that can be exploited therapeutically with this new class of inhibitors. Helleday and colleagues describe a nanomolar MTHFD2 inhibitor that causes replication stress and DNA damage accumulation in cancer cells via thymidine depletion, demonstrating a potential therapeutic strategy in AML tumors in vivo.
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| 3. |
- Bräutigam, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Hypoxic Signaling and the Cellular Redox Tumor Environment Determine Sensitivity to MTH1 Inhibition
- 2016
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Ingår i: Cancer Research. - 0008-5472 .- 1538-7445. ; 76:8, s. 2366-2375
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cancer cells are commonly in a state of redox imbalance that drives their growth and survival. To compensate for oxidative stress induced by the tumor redox environment, cancer cells upregulate specific nononcogenic addiction enzymes, such as MTH1 (NUDT1), which detoxifies oxidized nucleotides. Here, we show that increasing oxidative stress in nonmalignant cells induced their sensitization to the effects of MTH1 inhibition, whereas decreasing oxidative pressure in cancer cells protected against inhibition. Furthermore, we purified zebrafish MTH1 and solved the crystal structure of MTH1 bound to its inhibitor, highlighting the zebrafish as a relevant tool to study MTH1 biology. Delivery of 8-oxo-dGTP and 2-OH-dATP to zebrafish embryos was highly toxic in the absence of MTH1 activity. Moreover, chemically or genetically mimicking activated hypoxia signaling in zebrafish revealed that pathologic upregulation of the HIF1 alpha response, often observed in cancer and linked to poor prognosis, sensitized embryos to MTH1 inhibition. Using a transgenic zebrafish line, in which the cellular redox status can be monitored in vivo, we detected an increase in oxidative pressure upon activation of hypoxic signaling. Pretreatment with the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine protected embryos with activated hypoxia signaling against MTH1 inhibition, suggesting that the aberrant redox environment likely causes sensitization. In summary, MTH1 inhibition may offer a general approach to treat cancers characterized by deregulated hypoxia signaling or redox imbalance.
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| 4. |
- Karsten, Stella, et al.
(författare)
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MTH1 as a target to alleviate T cell driven diseases by selective suppression of activated T cells
- 2021
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Ingår i: Cell Death & Differentiation. - Stockholm : Karolinska Institutet, Dept of Oncology-Pathology. - 1350-9047 .- 1476-5403.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- T cell-driven diseases account for considerable morbidity and disability globally and there is an urgent need for new targeted therapies. Both cancer cells and activated T cells have an altered redox balance, and up-regulate the DNA repair protein MTH1 that sanitizes the oxidized nucleotide pool to avoid DNA damage and cell death. Herein we suggest that the up-regulation of MTH1 in activated T cells correlates with their redox status, but occurs before the ROS levels increase, challenging the established conception of MTH1 increasing as a direct response to an increased ROS status. We also propose a heterogeneity in MTH1 levels among activated T cells, where a smaller subset of activated T cells does not upregulate MTH1 despite activation and proliferation. The study suggests that the vast majority of activated T cells have high MTH1 levels and are sensitive to the MTH1 inhibitor TH1579 (Karonudib) via induction of DNA damage and cell cycle arrest. TH1579 further drives the surviving cells to the MTH1[superscript low] phenotype with altered redox status. TH1579 does not affect resting T cells, as opposed to the established immunosuppressor Azathioprine, and no sensitivity among other major immune cell types regarding their function can be observed. Finally, we demonstrate a therapeutic effect in a murine model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. In conclusion, we show proof of concept of the existence of MTH1[superscript high] and MTH1[superscript low] activated T cells, and that MTH1 inhibition by TH1579 selectively suppresses pro-inflammatory activated T cells. Thus, MTH1 inhibition by TH1579 may serve as a novel treatment option against autoreactive T cells in autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.
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| 5. |
- Karsten, Stella
(författare)
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The DNA repair enzymes MTH1 and OGG1 as targets to treat inflammation
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Chronic and acute inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), psoriasis and sepsis, account for vast disability and morbidity in the world. Several new immunomodulating treatment alternatives have been developed over the past decades, but there is still an urgent need for new options. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are tightly bound to inflammation. They can cause oxidized DNA lesions, which are commonly considered to be detrimental. However, these modifications could potentially also constitute an important part of inflammatory signaling. In this thesis, we thus wanted to determine whether inhibition of two DNA repair enzyme, MTH1 and OGG1, could have immunomodulating effects. MTH1 sanitizes the nucleotide pool from oxidized dNTPs and thus prevents oxidized bases, such as oxidized guanine (8-oxoG) from entering the DNA. OGG1 is a DNA glycosylase excising 8-oxoG from the DNA. MTH1 has been described as a promising target for cancer, as many cancers rely on an up-regulation of MTH1 due to elevated ROS pressure, but its role in inflammation has not been investigated. OGG1 was known to be involved in inflammation from before, but this had mainly been validated with knockout models and few inhibitors. Hence, we wanted to investigate novel small-molecule inhibitors of OGG1 and MTH1 for acute and T cell driven inflammation, respectively. In Paper I, we demonstrate an anti-inflammatory effect of the OGG1 inhibitor TH5487 in both in vitro models and an in vivo model of acute pneumonia. We propose that TH5487 prevents OGG1 from binding to 8-oxoG-rich promoter regions of pro-inflammatory genes, further preventing transcription factors from binding to the DNA. We show that the effect is comparable to OGG1 knockout, and that TH5487 has an effect in the pneumonia model both prophylactically and when given after inflammatory stimulation. In preliminary data, we also propose that the effect is comparable to dexamethasone, but without having a T cell suppressing effect, which could be a major advantage in sepsis and pneumonia. In Paper II-III, we show proof-of-concept of MTH1 inhibitors as anti-inflammatory drug candidates in mouse models of psoriasis and MS, respectively. We show that psoriatic tissue from patients have elevated MTH1 levels, and that the inhibitor TH1579 suppresses T cell activation and kills activated T cells by inducing DNA damage, cell cycle arrest and mitotic disruption. We further discovered some new T cell biology findings, proposing that activated T cells exhibit a heterogeneity in MTH1 levels, where a subgroup of T cells can proliferate despite low MTH1 and ROS levels. The toxicity among other immune cells was generally low. Conclusively, we propose these novel inhibitors of the DNA repair enzymes OGG1 and MTH1 to be promising drug candidates for acute and T cell driven inflammation. Other indications, as well as the role of ROS and DNA repair in inflammation, are discussed further in the thesis.
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| 6. |
- Visnes, Torkild, et al.
(författare)
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Small-molecule inhibitor of OGG1 suppresses proinflammatory gene expression and inflammation
- 2018
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 362:6416, s. 834-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The onset of inflammation is associated with reactive oxygen species and oxidative damage to macromolecules like 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) in DNA. Because 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (OGG1) binds 8-oxoG and because Ogg1-deficient mice are resistant to acute and systemic inflammation, we hypothesized that OGG1 inhibition may represent a strategy for the prevention and treatment of inflammation. We developed TH5487, a selective active-site inhibitor of OGG1, which hampers OGG1 binding to and repair of 8-oxoG and which is well tolerated by mice. TH5487 prevents tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced OGG1-DNA interactions at guanine-rich promoters of proinflammatory genes. This, in turn, decreases DNA occupancy of nuclear factor kappa B and proinflammatory gene expression, resulting in decreased immune cell recruitment to mouse lungs. Thus, we present a proof of concept that targeting oxidative DNA repair can alleviate inflammatory conditions in vivo.
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| 7. |
- Visnes, Torkild, et al.
(författare)
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Targeting OGG1 arrests cancer cell proliferation by inducing replication stress
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nucleic Acids Research. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-1048 .- 1362-4962. ; 48:21, s. 12234-12251
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Altered oncogene expression in cancer cells causes loss of redox homeostasis resulting in oxidative DNA damage, e.g. 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG), repaired by base excision repair (BER). PARP1 coordinates BER and relies on the upstream 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase (OGG1) to recognise and excise 8-oxoG. Here we hypothesize that OGG1 may represent an attractive target to exploit reactive oxygen species (ROS) elevation in cancer. Although OGG1 depletion is well tolerated in non-transformed cells, we report here that OGG1 depletion obstructs A3 T-cell lymphoblastic acute leukemia growth in vitro and in vivo, validating OGG1 as a potential anti-cancer target. In line with this hypothesis, we show that OGG1 inhibitors (OGG1i) target a wide range of cancer cells, with a favourable therapeutic index compared to non-transformed cells. Mechanistically, OGG1i and shRNA depletion cause S-phase DNA damage, replication stress and proliferation arrest or cell death, representing a novel mechanistic approach to target cancer. This study adds OGG1 to the list of BER factors, e.g. PARP1, as potential targets for cancer treatment.
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