Abstract 4539: ATAD2 mediates DNA replication in cancer
Authors: Koo Seong Joo , Fernandez-Montalvan Amaury Ernesto , Holton Simon , von Ahsen Oliver , Badock Volker , Vittori Sarah , Ott Christopher J. , Bradner James E. , Gorjanacz Matyas 
Published: July 2016

ATAD2 (ATPase family AAA domain-containing protein 2) is an epigenetic regulator which associates with chromatin through its Bromodomain specialized in Acetyl-Lys binding of histones. ATAD2 was also shown to directly associate with multiple transcription factors such as ERα, AR, E2F and MYC, and is believed to function as an oncogenic transcription factor in breast cancer.

Here, we propose that ATAD2 facilitates DNA replication. ATAD2 is specifically expressed in S and G2 phase during which it co-localizes with newly synthesized DNA. We found ATAD2 on nascent chromatin together with newly synthesized histone H4 acetylated on K12 and Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA), a central protein coupling replication with chromatin restoration, but not on post-replicative chromatin. In line with these observations depletion of ATAD2 by siRNA led to reduced DNA replication, perturbed loading of PCNA onto chromatin and inhibition of cell proliferation. Interestingly, a brief cycloheximide treatment of the cells to prevent the deposition of newly synthesized histones (e.g. H4K5,12diac) abrogated the recruitment of ATAD2 to nascent chromatin suggesting that ATAD2 might recognize and interact with these histone marks. Indeed, extensive biochemical and biophysical analyses involving TR-FRET, MST (MicroScale Thermophresis), Biocore, and NMR revealed that the bromodomain of ATAD2 preferentially interacts with these marks characteristic of newly synthesized histones. Consequently, overexpression of ATAD2 mutants unable to interact with these marks impaired DNA replication and recruitment of PCNA onto chromatin. Taken together, our data suggest that ATAD2 is essential for DNA replication and thus predicts that it is expressed in cells undergoing S phase. To further strengthen this hypothesis we compared the expression of ATAD2 with the proliferation marker Ki67, and the late S and G2/M marker TOP2A, in various cancer types such as colorectal, gastric, lung, prostate and breast cancers by immunohistochemistry. Indeed ATAD2 expression was restricted to Ki67 and TOP2A expressing areas of tumors, independent of cancer type. Moreover, aggressive tumors, such as triple negative breast cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, showed more intense and abundant expression of ATAD2 whereas slow-growing tumors showed low expression of ATAD2. This research identifies a role for ATAD2 in replication, providing mechanistic and translational support for therapeutic development in cancer.

Citation Format: Seong Joo Koo, Amaury Ernesto Fernandez-Montalvan, Simon Holton, Oliver von Ahsen, Volker Badock, Sarah Vittori, Christopher J. Ott, James E. Bradner, Matyas Gorjanacz. ATAD2 mediates DNA replication in cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4539.