Azanucleoside treatment leads to B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia

TL;DR

A drug called ATC causes a specific type of leukemia in mice by creating mutations in DNA, especially in methylated regions.

Contribution

The study shows ATC causes B-cell precursor ALL through two distinct DNA mutation mechanisms.

Findings

ATC treatment leads to B-cell precursor ALL in immunodeficient mice.

ATC causes C>G mutations in cancer-related genes, especially at methylated CpG sites.

ATC induces both DNMT1-dependent and -independent mutagenesis.

Abstract

•Treatment with ATC, an investigational azanucleoside, invariably leads to BCP-ALL in immunodeficient mice.•Two related mechanisms result in C>G mutation involving known cancer genes; the primary mechanism mutates 5-methyl-cytosine in a CpG context.

Treatment with ATC, an investigational azanucleoside, invariably leads to BCP-ALL in immunodeficient mice.

Two related mechanisms result in C>G mutation involving known cancer genes; the primary mechanism mutates 5-methyl-cytosine in a CpG context.

5-Aza-4'-thio-2'-deoxycytidine (ATC) is an azanucleoside cytidine analog under investigation in preclinical studies for solid tumors as a promising DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) inhibitor. Repeated treatment with ATC has previously been shown to induce acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) of both B-cell and T-cell origin in mice. Herein, RAG-1 deficient or “knockout” (KO) mice (B6.129S7-RAG-1tm1Mom/J) were treated with ATC to determine if ATC could be oncogenic in nonlymphoid cells. However, ATC treatment targeted early B progenitors and invariably led to B-lineage ALL, with a gene expression signature similar to human B-cell precursor (BCP)-ALL. Whole-exome sequencing revealed numerous single base substitutions of cytosine, primarily C>G transversions at CpG dinucleotides, within genes important for BCP-ALL. Bisulfite sequencing and treatment with a noncovalent DNMT1 inhibitor indicated that methylated cytosines were preferred targets for mutagenesis. This study reveals that ATC exposure leads to both DNMT1-dependent and -independent mutagenesis and provides a direct link between ATC exposure, a complex mutational signature, and malignant transformation.

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