CRISPR metabolic screen identifies ATM and KEAP1 as targetable genetic vulnerabilities in solid tumors

Abstract

Cancer treatments targeting DNA repair deficiencies often encounter drug resistance, possibly due to alternative metabolic pathways that counteract the most damaging effects. To identify such alternative pathways, we screened for metabolic pathways exhibiting synthetic lethality with inhibition of the DNA damage response kinase Ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) using a metabolism-centered Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 library. Our data revealed Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1) as a key factor involved in desensitizing cancer cells to ATM inhibition both in vitro and in vivo. Cells depleted of KEAP1 exhibited an aberrant overexpression of the cystine transporter SLC7A11, robustly accumulated cystine inducing disulfide stress, and became hypersensitive to ATM inhibition. These hallmarks were reversed in a reducing cellular environment indicating that disulfide stress was a crucial factor. In The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pan-cancer datasets, we found that ATM levels negatively correlated with KEAP1 levels across multiple solid malignancies. Together, our results unveil ATM and KEAP1 as new targetable vulnerabilities in solid tumors.