Targeting MAT2A-S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) Axis Attenuates DNA Damage Response and Cancer Stemness to Increase Platinum Sensitivity in Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Metabolic and epigenetic reprogramming drives development of platinum resistance and disease recurrence in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC), a major clinical challenge in the field. S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is the universal methyl group donor, synthesized by methionine adenosyltransferase 2A (MAT2A) from methionine. Prior studies have linked altered SAM-dependent DNA methylation to acquired platinum resistance in HGSC, connecting metabolism and epigenetic regulation. However, how MAT2A-driven SAM synthesis coordinates the metabolic-epigenetic remodeling axis to affect platinum sensitivity remains unclear. Here, we report that MAT2A-driven SAM synthesis is required for platinum-induced alterations in DNA methylation and the enrichment of ovarian cancer stem cells (OCSCs). We found that MAT2A upregulation correlated with poor progression-free survival in OC patients, and both pharmacological inhibition and genetic knockdown of MAT2A increased sensitivity to cisplatin. To investigate the underlying epigenetic mechanism, we profiled genome-wide changes in DNA methylation using OVCAR3 treated with cisplatin (15μM, 16hr) and/or MAT2A siRNA (48hr), which showed that MAT2A knockdown reversed platinum-induced DNA methylation dynamics. Subsequent analysis revealed enrichment of pathways associated with platinum resistance, DNA repair, and stemness. Mechanistically, inhibiting MAT2A abrogated both the platinum-induced hypermethylation at promoter regions and the SAMTOR-mTOR-S6K-FANCD2 signaling axis, resulting in accumulated R-loops, attenuated DNA repair activation in response to platinum, and enhanced platinum-induced DNA damage and cell death. Using a functional DNA damage reporter assay, we directly showed that MAT2A knockdown reduced DNA repair through homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathways. By detecting key DNA damage response kinases governing HR and NHEJ signaling, we further demonstrated that MAT2A inhibition abrogated DNA repair activation in response to platinum. Furthermore, single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis of paired primary and recurrent tumors from HGSC patients revealed an association between MAT2A expression and increased OCSC features in recurrent tumors. In vitro, MAT2A inhibition prevented cisplatin-induced enrichment of OCSCs, reduced stemness markers, and inhibited spheroid-forming ability, all of which were rescued by SAM supplementation. Together, our study reveals a previously unrecognized mechanism linking metabolism to epigenetic regulation through platinum-induced remodeling and establishes the MAT2A-SAM axis as a promising therapeutic target to enhance platinum sensitivity by abrogating DNA damage response and OCSC enrichment and ultimately reduce OCSC-driven disease recurrence in HGSC.