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MTH1 favors mesothelioma progression and mediates paracrine rescue of bystander endothelium from oxidative damage
Sophia F. Magkouta, Apostolos G. Pappas, Photene C. Vaitsi, Panagiotis C. Agioutantis, Ioannis S. Pateras, Charalampos A. Moschos, Marianthi P. Iliopoulou, Chrysavgi N. Kosti, Heleni V. Loutrari, Vassilis G. Gorgoulis, Ioannis T. Kalomenidis
Sophia F. Magkouta, Apostolos G. Pappas, Photene C. Vaitsi, Panagiotis C. Agioutantis, Ioannis S. Pateras, Charalampos A. Moschos, Marianthi P. Iliopoulou, Chrysavgi N. Kosti, Heleni V. Loutrari, Vassilis G. Gorgoulis, Ioannis T. Kalomenidis
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Research Article Angiogenesis Oncology

MTH1 favors mesothelioma progression and mediates paracrine rescue of bystander endothelium from oxidative damage

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Abstract

Oxidative stress and inadequate redox homeostasis is crucial for tumor initiation and progression. MTH1 (NUDT1) enzyme prevents incorporation of oxidized dNTPs by sanitizing the deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) pool and is therefore vital for the survival of tumor cells. MTH1 inhibition has been found to inhibit the growth of several experimental tumors, but its role in mesothelioma progression remained elusive. Moreover, although MTH1 is nonessential to normal cells, its role in survival of host cells in tumor milieu, especially tumor endothelium, is unclear. We validated a clinically relevant MTH1 inhibitor (Karonudib) in mesothelioma treatment using human xenografts and syngeneic murine models. We show that MTH1 inhibition impedes mesothelioma progression and that inherent tumoral MTH1 levels are associated with a tumor’s response. We also identified tumor endothelial cells as selective targets of Karonudib and propose a model of intercellular signaling among tumor cells and bystander tumor endothelium. We finally determined the major biological processes associated with elevated MTH1 gene expression in human mesotheliomas.

Authors

Sophia F. Magkouta, Apostolos G. Pappas, Photene C. Vaitsi, Panagiotis C. Agioutantis, Ioannis S. Pateras, Charalampos A. Moschos, Marianthi P. Iliopoulou, Chrysavgi N. Kosti, Heleni V. Loutrari, Vassilis G. Gorgoulis, Ioannis T. Kalomenidis

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Figure 6

Computational enrichment analysis significantly associates differentially expressed genes in high versus low MTH1 human mesothelioma patients with functionally relevant biological processes, cellular components, and pathways.

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Computational enrichment analysis significantly associates differentiall...
(A) Tukey-style box plots depicting MTH1 (NUDT1) TMM normalized expression levels of the selected high- and low-expressing patients groups in log2 scale. Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon statistical significance test for 2-group comparison (P= 4.985 × 10–8) NUDT1-high (n = 14) (lower whisker, 4.28; lower hinge, 4.36; median, 4.73; upper hinge, 4.88; upper whisker, 4.97; outliers, 5.66 and 5.79) NUDT1-low (n = 14) (lower whisker, 2.82; lower hinge, 2.94; median, 3.32; upper hinge, 3.35; upper whisker, 3.36). (B) Volcano plot of upregulated (red) and downregulated (green) DEGs between groups of high and low MTH1 expression. Horizontal dashed line represents the highest P value in negative log10 scale that corresponds to an adjusted P < 0.05. Vertical dashed lines correspond to |log2(fold change)| > 0.3 threshold. Gray dots mark nonstatistically significant altered genes. (C) Gene Ontology enrichment analysis for significantly related GO terms of biological processes. Chart presents the top 25 among 78 in total GO terms (Supplemental Table 2). (D) GO enrichment analysis for significantly associated GO terms of cellular components (Supplemental Table 3). (E) Reactome Pathway enrichment analysis (Supplemental Table 4). y axis, term and gene enrichment; x axis, corrected P value in negative log10 scale.

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