GSE114263
Alpha-ketoglutarate links p53 to cell fate during tumor suppression
The tumor suppressor p53 is mutated in the majority of human cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC)1,2. Wild-type p53 accumulates in response to cellular stress and acts to regulate the expression of genes that influence cell fate and constrain tumorigenesis2. p53 also can modulate cellular metabolism3, though it remains unclear how the metabolic effects of p53 influence tumor suppression or whether the metabolic consequences of p53 loss play a role in disease maintenance. Here, we show that restoring endogenous p53 function in cancer cells derived from a mouse model of PDAC driven by oncogenic Kras and a regulatable p53 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) rewires glucose and glutamine metabolism to support the accumulation of the metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate, an obligate substrate for several enzymes that regulate chromatin methylation. p53 restoration induces transcriptional programs characteristic of pre-neoplastic differentiation, an effect that can be partially recapitulated by addition of cell permeable alpha-ketoglutarate. Consequently, enforcing alpha-ketoglutarate accumulation in p53 deficient cells by inhibiting expression of oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (Ogdh), the enzyme that consumes alpha-ketoglutarate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, reduces tumor-initiating capacity and promotes tumor differentiation in vivo. In both mouse and human pancreatic cancer, decreasing levels of the alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent chromatin modification 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) marks progression from prenoplastic to de-differentiated malignant lesions. p53 restoration or Ogdh suppression promotes accumulation of 5hmC specifically in differentiated tumor cells in vivo. Together, these results nominate alpha-ketoglutarate as an effector of p53-mediated tumor suppression that promotes pre-neoplastic differentiation and suppresses malignant progression. Overall design: ATAC-sequencing of mouse PDAC cell lines in control, p53 on, or aKG setting