Pharmacological inhibition of METTL1 as a therapy against solid and haematological cancers [RNA-Seq]

The m7G methyltranferase METTL1 has been connected to oncogenic transformation and maintenance of several aggressive malignancies but the impact of a therapeutic targeting a tRNA-modifying enzyme is yet to be determined. Here, we present the development and characterisation of STM9005, a highly selective and potent first-in-class tRNA methyltransferase inhibitor of METTL1.

Treatment of numerous tumour models with STM9005 reduces cancer growth, causes cellular changes and dysregulates cell cycle progression. These cellular effects were accompanied by a selective decrease of m7G on a subset of tRNAs and a reduction in their expression levels, which led to an impact on oncogenic mRNA translation. We illustrate that pharmacological inhibition of METTL1 in vivo impairs tumour growth and leads to a significant prolongation of survival in various mouse cancer models of different tissue origin.