PAICS contributes to gastric carcinogenesis and participates in DNA damage response by interacting with histone deacetylase 1/2

Phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxylase, phosphoribosylaminoimidazole succinocarboxamide synthetase (PAICS), an essential enzyme involved in de novo purine biosynthesis, is connected with formation of various tumors. However, the specific biological roles and related mechanisms of PAICS in gastric cancer (GC) remain unclear. In the present study, we identified for the first time that PAICS was significantly upregulated in GC and high expression of PAICS was correlated with poor prognosis of patients with GC. In addition, knockdown of PAICS significantly induced cell apoptosis, and inhibited GC cell growth both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic studies first found that PAICS was engaged in DNA damage response, and knockdown of PAICS in GC cell lines induced DNA damage and impaired DNA damage repair efficiency. Further explorations revealed that PAICS interacted with histone deacetylase HDAC1 and HDAC2, and PAICS deficiency decreased the expression of DAD51 and inhibited its recruitment to DNA damage sites by impairing HDAC1/2 deacetylase activity, eventually preventing DNA damage repair. Consistently, PAICS deficiency enhanced the sensitivity of GC cells to DNA damage agent, cisplatin (CDDP), both in vitro and in vivo. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that PAICS plays an oncogenic role in GC, which act as a novel diagnosis and prognostic biomarker for patients with GC.