Purine synthesis inhibitor L-Alanosine impairs mitochondrial function and stemness of brain tumor initiating cells

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a lethal brain cancer exhibiting high levels of drug resistance, a feature partially imparted by tumor cell stemness. Recent work shows that homozygous MTAP deletion, a genetic alteration occurring in about half of all GBMs, promotes stemness in GBM cells. Exploiting MTAP loss-conferred deficiency in purine salvage, we demonstrate that purine synthesis blockade via treatment with L-Alanosine (ALA), an inhibitor of de novo purine synthesis, attenuates stemness and mitochondrial function of MTAP-deficient GBM cells. Here, we use RNA-Seq with ALA-treated patient-derived GBM cells to investigate the transcriptomic impact of long-term ALA treatment. mRNA-seq analysis of L-Alanosine-treated patient-derived GBM cells