M65 and microRNA-122 are potential biomarkers of DILI superior to ALT with respect to sensitivity and specificity.

The folate metabolism enzyme MTHFD2 (methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase) is consistently overexpressed in cancer but its roles are not fully characterized, and current candidate inhibitors have limited potency for clinical development. In the present study, we demonstrate a role for MTHFD2 in DNA replication and genomic stability in cancer cells, and perform a drug screen to identify potent and selective nanomolar MTHFD2 inhibitors; protein cocrystal structures demonstrated binding to the active site of MTHFD2 and target engagement. MTHFD2 inhibitors reduced replication fork speed and induced replication stress followed by S-phase arrest and apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in vitro and in vivo, with a therapeutic window spanning four orders of magnitude compared with nontumorigenic cells. Mechanistically, MTHFD2 inhibitors prevented thymidine production leading to misincorporation of uracil into DNA and replication stress. Overall, these results demonstrate a functional link between MTHFD2-dependent cancer metabolism and replication stress that can be exploited therapeutically with this new class of inhibitors.

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Evidence is accumulating that bile acids induce apoptosis in colonic cells. Therefore, it becomes important to study the underlying molecular mechanisms and the role of this phenomenon in tumor promotion. Minutes after exposure of HCT 116 and HT-29 cells to deoxycholate (DCA), DNA damage, measured using the COMET assay, was evident. Caspase-3 was rapidly activated in HCT 116 cells exposed to DCA, whereas in HT-29 cells, caspase-3 activation was delayed. Using transient transfections with reporter constructs, we showed that the transcription factors activator protein-1 (AP-1) and NF-kB were increased in HCT 116 cells, in a dose-dependent fashion, by DCA COX-2 promoter activity was also induced by DCA and using mutant COX-2 promoter plasmids, we showed that the ability of DCA to induce promoter activity was partly dependent upon a functional NF-kB and C/EBP site, and completely dependent on a functional c-AMP response element site. DNA damage thus appears to be the initiating event in DCA-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, the bile acid, DCA, has a major impact on apoptotic mechanisms in colonic cells and this may be contributing to its effect as a tumor promoter.