Oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate is a competitive inhibitor of alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases
Xu, W., Yang, H., Liu, Y., Yang, Y., Wang, P., Kim, S.-H., Ito, S., Yang, C., Wang, P., Xiao, M.-T., Liu, L.-X., Jiang, W.-Q., Liu, J., Zhang, J.-Y., Wang, B., Frye, S., Zhang, Y., Xu, Y.-H., Lei, Q.-Y., Guan, K.-L., Zhao, S.-M., Xiong, Y.(2011) Cancer Cell 19: 17-30
- PubMed: 21251613 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2010.12.014
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
3PUQ, 3PUR - PubMed Abstract: 
IDH1 and IDH2 mutations occur frequently in gliomas and acute myeloid leukemia, leading to simultaneous loss and gain of activities in the production of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) and 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), respectively. Here we demonstrate that 2-HG is a competitive inhibitor of multiple α-KG-dependent dioxygenases, including histone demethylases and the TET family of 5-methlycytosine (5mC) hydroxylases. 2-HG occupies the same space as α-KG does in the active site of histone demethylases. Ectopic expression of tumor-derived IDH1 and IDH2 mutants inhibits histone demethylation and 5mC hydroxylation. In glioma, IDH1 mutations are associated with increased histone methylation and decreased 5-hydroxylmethylcytosine (5hmC). Hence, tumor-derived IDH1 and IDH2 mutations reduce α-KG and accumulate an α-KG antagonist, 2-HG, leading to genome-wide histone and DNA methylation alterations.
Organizational Affiliation: 
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai 20032, China.