Abacavir induces the transcriptional activity of YY1 and other oncogenic transcription factors in gastric cancer cells.

Abstract Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is a ubiquitous transcription factor with both transcriptional activating and repressing functions. Targeting YY1 is considered as a potential therapeutic strategy for several malignancies. Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT) is also considered as a potential target for cancer therapeutics. To enable the large-scale screening and identification of potential YY1 targeting drugs, a gastric cancer cell line-based drug screening assay was developed. In a YY1 targeted drug repurpose screen, abacavir sulfate, a nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor, known to target TERT was identified to show the feature of activating YY1 mediated transcription. We further explored i) the molecular targets of abacavir, ii) activation pattern of pathways regulated by abacavir in gastric tumors, and iii) therapeutic potential of abacavir for gastric cancer cells. Oncogenic signaling pathways like MYC, HIF1-α, ERK, WNT, E2F, NFκB and NRF1/2 were also found to be highly activated by abacavir. Abacavir was found to have less impact on the viability of gastric cancer cells. Across gastric tumors, we observed the co-activation of TERT, alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT), DNA repair, and the oncogenic pathways MYC, E2F/DP1, ERK, YY1, HIF1α, and NFκB specific gene-sets, in a subset of gastric tumors. The observed connectivity among TERT, DNA repair, and multiple oncogenic pathways indicate the need for the development of combinatorial therapeutics for the gastric tumors with the activated TERT.