Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE100408: Probing the Roles of SUMOylation in Cancer Cell Biology Using a Selective SAE inhibitor

Bulk RNA sequencing

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) family proteins regulate target protein functions by post-translational modification. However, a potent and selective inhibitor to target the SUMO pathway has been lacking. Here we describe ML-792, the first mechanism-based SUMO-activating enzyme (SAE) inhibitor with nanomolar potency in cellular assays. ML-792 selectively blocks SAE enzyme activity and total SUMOylation, which leads to reduced cancer cell proliferation. Moreover, induction of the MYC oncogene increased the ML-792 mediated viability effect in cancer cells, indicating potential application of SAE inhibitors in MYC-amplified tumors. Using ML-792, we further explored the critical roles of SUMOylation in mitotic progression and chromosome segregation. Furthermore, expression of an SAE catalytic subunit (UBA2) mutant S95N/M97T rescued SUMOylation loss and the mitotic defect induced by ML-792, confirming the selectivity of ML-792. As a potent and selective SAE inhibitor, ML-792 provides rapid loss of endogenously SUMOylated proteins allowing for novel insights into SUMO biology. SOURCE: Pooja Shah (pooja.shah@takeda.com) - Takeda Pharmaceuticals