Hydrolyzable Tannins Are Iron Chelators That Inhibit DNA Repair Enzyme ALKBH2.

Hydrolyzable tannins are a class of polyphenolic compounds commonly found in natural products. In this work, we studied the in vitro inhibitory mechanism of six molecules in this class on ALKBH2, an Fe(II)/α-ketoglutarate-dependent DNA repair enzyme in the AlkB family. We determined the IC50 values of these compounds on the repair of 3-methylcytosine and 1-methyladenine, the prototypical substrates of ALKBH2. A structure-activity relationship was also observed between the strength of inhibition and the number of galloyl moieties in a molecule. In addition, we found that the inhibition by this class of polyphenolic compounds on ALKBH2 is through an iron-chelating mechanism.

Oncometabolites d- and l-2-Hydroxyglutarate Inhibit the AlkB Family DNA Repair Enzymes under Physiological Conditions.

Cancer-associated mutations often lead to perturbed cellular energy metabolism and accumulation of potentially harmful oncometabolites. One example is the chiral molecule 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG); its two stereoisomers (d- and l-2HG) have been found at abnormally high concentrations in tumors featuring anomalous metabolic pathways. 2HG has been demonstrated to competitively inhibit several α-ketoglutarate (αKG)- and non-heme iron-dependent dioxygenases, including some of the AlkB family DNA repair enzymes, such as ALKBH2 and ALKBH3. However, previous studies have only provided the IC50 values of d-2HG on the enzymes, and the results have not been correlated to physiologically relevant concentrations of 2HG and αKG in cancer cells. In this work, we performed detailed kinetic analyses of DNA repair reactions catalyzed by ALKBH2, ALKBH3, and the bacterial AlkB in the presence of d- and l-2HG in both double- and single-stranded DNA contexts. We determined the kinetic parameters of inhibition, including kcat, KM, and Ki. We also correlated the relative concentrations of 2HG and αKG previously measured in tumor cells with the inhibitory effect of 2HG on the AlkB family enzymes. Both d- and l-2HG significantly inhibited the human DNA repair enzymes ALKBH2 and ALKBH3 at pathologically relevant concentrations (73-88% for d-2HG and 31-58% for l-2HG inhibition). This work provides a new perspective that the elevation of the d- or l-2HG concentration in cancer cells may contribute to an increased mutation rate by inhibiting the DNA repair performed by the AlkB family enzymes and thus exacerbate the genesis and progression of tumors.

Rhein Inhibits AlkB Repair Enzymes and Sensitizes Cells to Methylated DNA Damage.

The AlkB repair enzymes, including Escherichia coli AlkB and two human homologues, ALKBH2 and ALKBH3, are iron(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases that efficiently repair N(1)-methyladenine and N(3)-methylcytosine methylated DNA damages. The development of small molecule inhibitors of these enzymes has seen less success. Here we have characterized a previously discovered natural product rhein and tested its ability to inhibit AlkB repair enzymes in vitro and to sensitize cells to methyl methane sulfonate that mainly produces N(1)-methyladenine and N(3)-methylcytosine lesions. Our investigation of the mechanism of rhein inhibition reveals that rhein binds to AlkB repair enzymes in vitro and promotes thermal stability in vivo In addition, we have determined a new structural complex of rhein bound to AlkB, which shows that rhein binds to a different part of the active site in AlkB than it binds to in fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO). With the support of these observations, we put forth the hypothesis that AlkB repair enzymes would be effective pharmacological targets for cancer treatment.