H3K27ac ChIP-seq BTIC vs. DGC

Brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs), also known as cancer stem cells, hijack high-affinity glucose uptake normally active in brain to maintain energy demands in dynamic tumor microenvironments. Using unbiased metabolomics and genomic analyses, we discovered that de novo purine synthesis is functionally upregulated in BTICs, mediating glucose-sustained anabolic metabolism. Inhibiting purine synthesis abrogated BTIC growth, self-renewal, and in vivo tumor formation by depleting intracellular pools of purine nucleotides, supporting purine synthesis as potential therapeutic point of fragility. In contrast, differentiated brain tumor cells retained proliferative potential with targeting of purine biosynthetic enzymes, suggesting a selective dependence in BTICs. Upstream transcriptional activation of purine synthesis is mediated by MYC. Elevated expression of purine synthetic enzymes correlates with poor prognosis in glioblastoma patients. Collectively, our results suggest that a stem-like state in brain cancer is associated with metabolic reprogramming to fuel tumor hierarchy, revealing potential BTIC cancer dependencies amenable to targeted therapy. We report associated H3K27ac ChIP-seq data from matched BTICs and serum-differentiated glioma cell models.