IMPDH inhibition enhances cytarabine efficacy in SAMHD1-expressing leukaemia cells via guanine nucleotide depletion

The nucleoside analogue cytarabine (ara-C) is part of standard treatment against acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The efficacy of this therapy is dependent upon accumulation of the active triphosphate metabolite ara-CTP, which mis-incorporates into genomic DNA, triggering cell death. The deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate triphosphohydrolase (dNTPase) SAMHD1 can hydrolyse ara-CTP and thereby convert the active metabolite back to its inactive prodrug form. This constitutes a barrier to treatment efficacy and thus strategies to target SAMHD1 are warranted. SAMHD1 activity is allosterically regulated by nucleotides, which are synthesised in cells via distinct pathways. We screened a collection of drugs targeting nucleotide biosynthetic enzymes and identified that inhibition of inosine-5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), responsible for catalysing the rate-limiting step in guanine nucleotide biosynthesis, sensitises AML cell lines to ara-C in a SAMHD1-dependent manner. We show that approved drugs inhibiting IMPDH—mycophenolic acid and ribavirin—imbalance deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate pools and increase ara-C efficacy in SAMHD1-proficient, but not deficient, leukaemic cells. Altogether, we provide insight into SAMHD1 regulation in leukaemic cells and show how this process can be exploited by approved drugs to improve ara-C therapy.