Intrinsic PARG inhibitor sensitivity is mimicked by TIMELESS haploinsufficiency and rescued by nucleoside supplementation

Camilla Coulson-Gilmer, Samantha Littler, Bethany M. Barnes, Rosie M. Brady, Holda A. Anagho, Nisha Pillay, Malini Dey, William Macmorland, Daniel Bronder, Louisa Nelson, Anthony Tighe, Wei Hsiang Lin, Robert D. Morgan, Richard D. Unwin, Michael L. Nielsen, Joanne C. McGrail, Stephen S. Taylor*

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

A subset of cancer cells are intrinsically sensitive to inhibitors targeting PARG, the poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase that degrades PAR chains. Sensitivity is accompanied by persistent DNA replication stress, and can be induced by inhibition of TIMELESS, a replisome accelerator. However, the nature of the vulnerability responsible for intrinsic sensitivity remains undetermined. To understand PARG activity dependency, we analysed Timeless model systems and intrinsically sensitive ovarian cancer cells. We show that nucleoside supplementation rescues all phenotypes associated with PARG inhibitor sensitivity, including replisome speed and fork stalling, S-phase completion and mitotic entry, proliferation dynamics and clonogenic potential. Importantly nucleoside supplementation restores PARG inhibitor resistance despite the continued presence of PAR chains, indicating that sensitivity does not correlate with PAR levels. In addition, we show that inhibition of thymidylate synthase, an enzyme required for dNTP homeostasis, induces PARG-dependency. Together, these observations suggest that PARG inhibitor sensitivity reflects an inability to control replisome speed and/or maintain helicase-polymerase coupling in response to nucleotide imbalances.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberzcae030
JournalNAR Cancer
Volume6
Issue number3
Number of pages24
ISSN2632-8674
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

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