Investigating how chemotherapeutic thiopurines inhibit telomerase elongation of telomeres

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Project Summary/ Abstract Telomere maintenance at chromosome ends is essential for the growth of cancer cells. In humans, telomeres end in a single strand overhang consisting of GGTTAG repeats that form the substrate for telomerase. Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase composed of two subunits: a protein component (TERT) and an RNA component (TR) which contains an integral template used to reverse transcribe multiple telomeric repeats during a single telomere binding event. Telomerase is an attractive target for cancer therapies because it is expressed in over 85% of cancer cells, while most adult somatic cells lack telomerase. Thiopurines are a class of nucleoside analogs used to treat leukemia and some pediatric cancers but are highly toxic. The prodrug 6- thio-2'-deoxyguanosine (6-thio-dG) was developed to reduce non-specific thiopurine toxicity. This drug was shown to successfully reduce the growth of mouse tumor xenografts for multiple cancer types. 6-thio-dG treatment can also cause telomere shortening and dysfunction, however, the mechanism was unknown until recently. In biochemistry experiments, I discovered that human telomerase can readily add the 6-thio-dG metabolite, 6-thio-dGTP, to a growing telomere chain, but this insertion then strongly inhibits telomerase’s ability to add additional telomeric repeats. I found that POT1-TPP1, which normally enhances telomerase binding and the addition of multiple repeats, cannot restore telomere elongation in the presence of 6-thio- dGTP. In addition, 6-thio-dGTP has a low micromolar IC50 for human telomerase due to telomerase’s inability to discriminate between dGTP and 6-thio-dGTP but does not inhibit DNA polymerase progression, reducing its off-target impact. My preliminary data for this project demonstrate that 6-thio-dG can disrupt telomerase binding when the modified base is located at the 3’ end of the telomeric overhang. I hypothesize that 6-thio-dG addition impairs telomerase’s interaction with the telomere, thereby disrupting cycling for repeat addition synthesis and inhibiting telomerase elongation of telomeres in cells. I will use complementary biochemical, single-molecule, and cellular approaches to test my hypothesis. Aim 1 will elucidate the mechanism by which 6-thio-dG disrupts the telomerase catalytic cycle. Aim 2 will determine whether telomerase can synthesize DNA and extend telomeres in cancer cells treated with 6-thio-dG. Aim 3 will determine if 6-thio-dG efficacy in cancer cells is enhanced by inhibiting the thiopurine sanitase, NUDT15. Completing this project will improve our understanding of how 6-thio-dG impacts telomerase activity and telomere maintenance in cancer cells. It will also enhance our understanding of how 6-thio-dGTP nucleotide impacts telomerase catalysis and its potential utility as a therapeutic for halting cancer cell proliferation. This fellowship will allow me to acquire new skills related to the project’s aims and outlines specific mentors for each. Career development is also a strong focus in this fellowship, which includes plans to attend workshops related to experimental techniques, data analysis, and scientific writing and attend national and international conferences to present the findings of this research project. This fellowship will help me acquire the training necessary to become an independent investigator.