Deep Mutational Scanning Of Pde3a Identifies Residues Required For Dnmdp Response.

Abstract PDE3A-SLFN12 complex formation is induced by a class of compounds, now called “velcrins”, exemplified by the small molecule, DNMDP. Cancer cells that express elevated levels of PDE3A and SLFN12 are sensitive to a velcrin-mediated cytotoxic response, which is independent of PDE3A inhibition. However, the details of complex formation have not yet been revealed. We solved the crystal structure of PDE3A with a series of ligands bound to the active site and found that PDE3A exists as a dimer, and velcrin binding does not cause any obvious structural changes in the PDE3A protein structure. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX-MS) experiments with velcrin-bound PDE3A in the absence and presence of SLFN12 identified three regions of PDE3A that are shielded from solvent as a result of velcrin-induced SLFN12 binding. Two of these regions are near the velcrin binding site, and the third region lies at the PDE3A homodimerization interface. In order to further investigate the structural relationship between PDE3A, DNMDP, and SLFN12, we took a deep-mutation scanning (DMS) approach to identify residues of PDE3A that impact DNMDP sensitivity. A library of PDE3A alleles was developed in which the sequence encoding amino acids 668-1141, including the PDE3A catalytic domain, was substituted with a codon for every other possible amino acid or a stop codon in the context of the full-length cDNA. The library was transduced into PDE3A-knockout GB1 glioblastoma cells and assessed for survival in the presence of DMSO or DNMDP. Corroborating the HDX-MS data, we identified three regions of PDE3A in which missense mutations abrogated DNMDP response: the active site, the homodimerization surface, and an alpha helix containing amino acid F914. We confirmed that mutations of F914 and the homodimer interface retain the ability to bind resin-conjugated compound but fail to complex with SLFN12. Taken together, the HDX and DMS results suggest that PDE3A dimerization is required to stabilize velcrin-induced SLFN12 binding and implicate the alpha helix containing F914 as the SLFN12 binding interface of PDE3A. Citation Format: Xiaoyun Wu, Malvina Papanastasiou, Gavin Schnitzler, Colin Garvie, Stephanie Hoyt, Terry Zhang, James Mullahoo, Andrew Baker, Joseph McGaunn, Bethany Kaplan, Sooncheol Lee, Martin Lange, Steven Carr, Xiaoping Yang, Federica Piccioni, Andrew Cherniack, Matthew Meyerson, Heidi Greulich. Deep mutational scanning of PDE3A identifies residues required for DNMDP response [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1219.