Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.

Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) is a telomerase-independent mechanism deployed by several aggressive cancers to maintain telomere length. This contributes to their malignancy and resistance to conventional therapies. In prior studies, we have identified key proteins linked to the ALT proc...

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Main Authors: Isaac Armendáriz-Castillo, Jennyfer García-Cárdenas, Pamela Espinosa, Katherine Hidalgo-Fernández, Lizbeth Peña-Zúñiga, Ronie Martínez, Juan Moromenacho, Andrés Herrera-Yela, Jonathan Cruz-Varela, Anilú Saucedo-Sariñana, María-Esperanza Cerdán, Andrés López-Cortés, Santiago Guerrero
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314012
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author Isaac Armendáriz-Castillo
Jennyfer García-Cárdenas
Pamela Espinosa
Katherine Hidalgo-Fernández
Lizbeth Peña-Zúñiga
Ronie Martínez
Juan Moromenacho
Andrés Herrera-Yela
Jonathan Cruz-Varela
Anilú Saucedo-Sariñana
María-Esperanza Cerdán
Andrés López-Cortés
Santiago Guerrero
author_facet Isaac Armendáriz-Castillo
Jennyfer García-Cárdenas
Pamela Espinosa
Katherine Hidalgo-Fernández
Lizbeth Peña-Zúñiga
Ronie Martínez
Juan Moromenacho
Andrés Herrera-Yela
Jonathan Cruz-Varela
Anilú Saucedo-Sariñana
María-Esperanza Cerdán
Andrés López-Cortés
Santiago Guerrero
author_sort Isaac Armendáriz-Castillo
collection DOAJ
description Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) is a telomerase-independent mechanism deployed by several aggressive cancers to maintain telomere length. This contributes to their malignancy and resistance to conventional therapies. In prior studies, we have identified key proteins linked to the ALT process using multi-omic data integration strategies. In this work, we combined metabolomic datasets with our earlier results to identify targetable metabolic pathways for ALT-positive tumors. 39 ALT-related proteins were found to interact with 42 different metabolites in our analysis. Additional networking analysis revealed a complex interaction between metabolites and ALT-related proteins, suggesting that pan-cancer oncogenes may have an impact on these pathways. Three metabolic pathways have been primarily related with the ALT mechanism: purine metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism. Lastly, we prioritized FDA-approved drugs (azathioprine, thioguanine, and mercaptopurine) that could target ALT-positive tumors through purine metabolism. This work provides a wide perspective of the metabolomic pathways associated with ALT and reveals potential therapeutic targets that require further experimental validation.
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spelling doaj-art-8d1e5d20b1ed4836add4fb10a308db7e2025-08-20T02:15:24ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01202e031401210.1371/journal.pone.0314012Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.Isaac Armendáriz-CastilloJennyfer García-CárdenasPamela EspinosaKatherine Hidalgo-FernándezLizbeth Peña-ZúñigaRonie MartínezJuan MoromenachoAndrés Herrera-YelaJonathan Cruz-VarelaAnilú Saucedo-SariñanaMaría-Esperanza CerdánAndrés López-CortésSantiago GuerreroAlternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) is a telomerase-independent mechanism deployed by several aggressive cancers to maintain telomere length. This contributes to their malignancy and resistance to conventional therapies. In prior studies, we have identified key proteins linked to the ALT process using multi-omic data integration strategies. In this work, we combined metabolomic datasets with our earlier results to identify targetable metabolic pathways for ALT-positive tumors. 39 ALT-related proteins were found to interact with 42 different metabolites in our analysis. Additional networking analysis revealed a complex interaction between metabolites and ALT-related proteins, suggesting that pan-cancer oncogenes may have an impact on these pathways. Three metabolic pathways have been primarily related with the ALT mechanism: purine metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism. Lastly, we prioritized FDA-approved drugs (azathioprine, thioguanine, and mercaptopurine) that could target ALT-positive tumors through purine metabolism. This work provides a wide perspective of the metabolomic pathways associated with ALT and reveals potential therapeutic targets that require further experimental validation.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314012
spellingShingle Isaac Armendáriz-Castillo
Jennyfer García-Cárdenas
Pamela Espinosa
Katherine Hidalgo-Fernández
Lizbeth Peña-Zúñiga
Ronie Martínez
Juan Moromenacho
Andrés Herrera-Yela
Jonathan Cruz-Varela
Anilú Saucedo-Sariñana
María-Esperanza Cerdán
Andrés López-Cortés
Santiago Guerrero
Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.
PLoS ONE
title Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.
title_full Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.
title_fullStr Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.
title_full_unstemmed Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.
title_short Metabolic pathways of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in pan-carcinoma.
title_sort metabolic pathways of alternative lengthening of telomeres in pan carcinoma
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314012
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