Chemo-Genetic Interactions Between Histone Modification and the Antiproliferation Drug AICAR Are Conserved in Yeast and Humans

Identifying synthetic lethal interactions has emerged as a promising new therapeutic approach aimed at targeting cancer cells directly. Here, we used the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a simple eukaryotic model to screen for mutations resulting in a synthetic lethality with 5-amino-4-imidazole carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAR) treatment. Indeed, AICAR has been reported to inhibit the proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines. Here, we found that loss of several histone-modifying enzymes, including Bre1 (histone H2B ubiquitination) and Set1 (histone H3 lysine 4 methylation), greatly enhanced AICAR inhibition on growth via the combined effects of both the drug and mutations on G1 cyclins. Our results point to AICAR impacting on Cln3 subcellular localization and at the Cln1 protein level, while the bre1 or set1 deletion affected CLN1 and CLN2 expression. As a consequence, AICAR and bre1/set1 deletions jointly affected all three G1 cyclins (Cln1, Cln2, and Cln3), leading to a condition known to result in synthetic lethality. Significantly, these chemo-genetic synthetic interactions were conserved in human HCT116 cells. Indeed, knock-down of RNF40, ASH2L, and KMT2D/MLL2 induced a highly significant increase in AICAR sensitivity. Given that KMT2D/MLL2 is mutated at high frequency in a variety of cancers, this synthetic lethal interaction has an interesting therapeutic potential.