Abstract
Senescence, defined as irreversible cell-cycle arrest, is the main driving force of aging and age-related diseases. Here, we performed high-throughput screening to identify compounds that alleviate senescence and identified the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) inhibitor KU-60019 as an effective agent. To elucidate the mechanism underlying ATM's role in senescence, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen and found that ATM interacted with the vacuolar ATPase V1 subunits ATP6V1E1 and ATP6V1G1. Specifically, ATM decreased E-G dimerization through direct phosphorylation of ATP6V1G1. Attenuation of ATM activity restored the dimerization, thus consequently facilitating assembly of the V1 and V0 domains with concomitant reacidification of the lysosome. In turn, this reacidification induced the functional recovery of the lysosome/autophagy system and was coupled with mitochondrial functional recovery and metabolic reprogramming. Together, our data reveal a new mechanism through which senescence is controlled by the lysosomal–mitochondrial axis, whose function is modulated by the fine-tuning of ATM activity.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Nintedanib induces senolytic effect via STAT3 inhibition
Cell Death & Disease Open Access 02 September 2022
-
Co-inhibition of ATM and ROCK synergistically improves cell proliferation in replicative senescence by activating FOXM1 and E2F1
Communications Biology Open Access 14 July 2022
-
Disruption of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking as a cellular senescence driver
Experimental & Molecular Medicine Open Access 29 June 2021
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 /Â 30Â days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout






References
López-OtÃn, C., Blasco, M.A., Partridge, L., Serrano, M. & Kroemer, G. The hallmarks of aging. Cell 153, 1194–1217 (2013).
Forgac, M. Vacuolar ATPases: rotary proton pumps in physiology and pathophysiology. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 8, 917–929 (2007).
Kane, P.M. The where, when, and how of organelle acidification by the yeast vacuolar H+-ATPase. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 70, 177–191 (2006).
Santos, R.X. et al. A synergistic dysfunction of mitochondrial fission/fusion dynamics and mitophagy in Alzheimer's disease. J. Alzheimers Dis. 20 (Suppl. 2), S401–S412 (2010).
Hwang, E.S., Yoon, G. & Kang, H.T. A comparative analysis of the cell biology of senescence and aging. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 66, 2503–2524 (2009).
Kurz, T., Terman, A., Gustafsson, B. & Brunk, U.T. Lysosomes and oxidative stress in aging and apoptosis. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1780, 1291–1303 (2008).
Houtkooper, R.H. et al. The metabolic footprint of aging in mice. Sci. Rep. 1, 134 (2011).
Silva, L.P. et al. Measurement of DNA concentration as a normalization strategy for metabolomic data from adherent cell lines. Anal. Chem. 85, 9536–9542 (2013).
Bassaneze, V., Miyakawa, A.A. & Krieger, J.E. Chemiluminescent detection of senescence-associated β galactosidase. Methods Mol. Biol. 965, 157–163 (2013).
Campisi, J. Senescent cells, tumor suppression, and organismal aging: good citizens, bad neighbors. Cell 120, 513–522 (2005).
Weber, A.M. & Ryan, A.J. ATM and ATR as therapeutic targets in cancer. Pharmacol. Ther. 149, 124–138 (2015).
Kurz, E.U. & Lees-Miller, S.P. DNA damage-induced activation of ATM and ATM-dependent signaling pathways. DNA Repair (Amst.) 3, 889–900 (2004).
Landis, G.N., Bhole, D. & Tower, J. A search for doxycycline-dependent mutations that increase Drosophila melanogaster life span identifies the VhaSFD, Sugar baby, filamin, fwd and Cctl genes. Genome Biol. 4, R8 (2003).
Hughes, A.L. & Gottschling, D.E. An early age increase in vacuolar pH limits mitochondrial function and lifespan in yeast. Nature 492, 261–265 (2012).
Féthière, J. et al. Building the stator of the yeast vacuolar-ATPase: specific interaction between subunits E and G. J. Biol. Chem. 279, 40670–40676 (2004).
Tudor, C.O. et al. Construction of phosphorylation interaction networks by text mining of full-length articles using the eFIP system. Database (Oxford) 2015, bav020 (2015).
Leontieva, O.V. & Blagosklonny, M.V. DNA damaging agents and p53 do not cause senescence in quiescent cells, while consecutive re-activation of mTOR is associated with conversion to senescence. Aging (Albany, NY) 2, 924–935 (2010).
Oot, R.A. & Wilkens, S. Subunit interactions at the V1-Vo interface in yeast vacuolar ATPase. J. Biol. Chem. 287, 13396–13406 (2012).
Kim, S.T., Lim, D.S., Canman, C.E. & Kastan, M.B. Substrate specificities and identification of putative substrates of ATM kinase family members. J. Biol. Chem. 274, 37538–37543 (1999).
Benlekbir, S., Bueler, S.A. & Rubinstein, J.L. Structure of the vacuolar-type ATPase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 11-Å resolution. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 19, 1356–1362 (2012).
Murata, Y. et al. Differential localization of the vacuolar H+ pump with G subunit isoforms (G1 and G2) in mouse neurons. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 36296–36303 (2002).
Nelson, N. & Harvey, W.R. Vacuolar and plasma membrane proton-adenosinetriphosphatases. Physiol. Rev. 79, 361–385 (1999).
Wieczorek, H., Brown, D., Grinstein, S., Ehrenfeld, J. & Harvey, W.R. Animal plasma membrane energization by proton-motive V-ATPases. BioEssays 21, 637–648 (1999).
DiCiccio, J.E. & Steinberg, B.E. Lysosomal pH and analysis of the counter ion pathways that support acidification. J. Gen. Physiol. 137, 385–390 (2011).
Zhou, J. et al. Activation of lysosomal function in the course of autophagy via mTORC1 suppression and autophagosome-lysosome fusion. Cell Res. 23, 508–523 (2013).
Jung, T., Bader, N. & Grune, T. Lipofuscin: formation, distribution, and metabolic consequences. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1119, 97–111 (2007).
Vázquez, C.L. & Colombo, M.I. Assays to assess autophagy induction and fusion of autophagic vacuoles with a degradative compartment, using monodansylcadaverine (MDC) and DQ-BSA. Methods Enzymol. 452, 85–95 (2009).
Guo, S. et al. A rapid and high content assay that measures cyto-ID-stained autophagic compartments and estimates autophagy flux with potential clinical applications. Autophagy 11, 560–572 (2015).
Youle, R.J. & Narendra, D.P. Mechanisms of mitophagy. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 12, 9–14 (2011).
Shintani, T. & Klionsky, D.J. Autophagy in health and disease: a double-edged sword. Science 306, 990–995 (2004).
Cimolai, M.C., Alvarez, S., Bode, C. & Bugger, H. Mitochondrial mechanisms in septic cardiomyopathy. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 16, 17763–17778 (2015).
Levine, B. & Kroemer, G. Autophagy in the pathogenesis of disease. Cell 132, 27–42 (2008).
Goncalves, S., Paupe, V., Dassa, E.P. & Rustin, P. Deferiprone targets aconitase: implication for Friedreich's ataxia treatment. BMC Neurol. 8, 20 (2008).
Pekovic, V. et al. Conserved cysteine residues in the mammalian lamin A tail are essential for cellular responses to ROS generation. Aging Cell 10, 1067–1079 (2011).
Shiloh, Y. The ATM-mediated DNA-damage response: taking shape. Trends Biochem. Sci. 31, 402–410 (2006).
Nassour, J. et al. Defective DNA single-strand break repair is responsible for senescence and neoplastic escape of epithelial cells. Nat. Commun. 7, 10399 (2016).
Ashcroft, G.S., Mills, S.J. & Ashworth, J.J. Ageing and wound healing. Biogerontology 3, 337–345 (2002).
Liu, J. et al. Restoration of lysosomal pH in RPE cells from cultured human and ABCA4−/− mice: pharmacologic approaches and functional recovery. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 49, 772–780 (2008).
Brand, M.D. The role of mitochondria in longevity and healthspan. Longev. Healthspan 3, 7 (2014).
Brand, M.D. & Nicholls, D.G. Assessing mitochondrial dysfunction in cells. Biochem. J. 435, 297–312 (2011).
Cao, K. et al. Rapamycin reverses cellular phenotypes and enhances mutant protein clearance in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome cells. Sci. Transl. Med. 3, 89ra58 (2011).
Stehling, O., Wilbrecht, C. & Lill, R. Mitochondrial iron-sulfur protein biogenesis and human disease. Biochimie 100, 61–77 (2014).
Breitenbach, M. et al. Mitochondria in ageing: there is metabolism beyond the ROS. FEMS Yeast Res. 14, 198–212 (2014).
Awasthi, P., Foiani, M. & Kumar, A. ATM and ATR signaling at a glance. J. Cell Sci. 128, 4255–4262 (2015).
Hickson, I. et al. Identification and characterization of a novel and specific inhibitor of the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated kinase ATM. Cancer Res. 64, 9152–9159 (2004).
Golding, S.E. et al. Improved ATM kinase inhibitor KU-60019 radiosensitizes glioma cells, compromises insulin, AKT and ERK prosurvival signaling, and inhibits migration and invasion. Mol. Cancer Ther. 8, 2894–2902 (2009).
Shiloh, Y. & Lederman, H.M. Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T): an emerging dimension of premature ageing. Ageing Res. Rev. 33, 76–88 (2017).
Lee, S.S., Bohrson, C., Pike, A.M., Wheelan, S.J. & Greider, C.W. ATM kinase is required for telomere elongation in mouse and human cells. Cell Rep. 13, 1623–1632 (2015).
Tong, A.S. et al. ATM and ATR signaling regulate the recruitment of human telomerase to telomeres. Cell Rep. 13, 1633–1646 (2015).
Blackburn, E.H., Epel, E.S. & Lin, J. Human telomere biology: a contributory and interactive factor in aging, disease risks, and protection. Science 350, 1193–1198 (2015).
Cho, H., Kim, K.M. & Kim, Y.K. Human proline-rich nuclear receptor coregulatory protein 2 mediates an interaction between mRNA surveillance machinery and decapping complex. Mol. Cell 33, 75–86 (2009).
Wei, J.-D., Kim, J.-Y., Kim, A.-K., Jang, S.K. & Kim, J.-H. RanBPM protein acts as a negative regulator of BLT2 receptor to attenuate BLT2-mediated cell motility. J. Biol. Chem. 288, 26753–26763 (2013).
Haggie, P.M. & Verkman, A.S. Unimpaired lysosomal acidification in respiratory epithelial cells in cystic fibrosis. J. Biol. Chem. 284, 7681–7686 (2009).
Kang, H.T., Lee, K.B., Kim, S.Y., Choi, H.R. & Park, S.C. Autophagy impairment induces premature senescence in primary human fibroblasts. PLoS One 6, e23367 (2011).
Chen, C.-S., Chen, W.-N.U., Zhou, M., Arttamangkul, S. & Haugland, R.P. Probing the cathepsin D using a BODIPY FL-pepstatin A: applications in fluorescence polarization and microscopy. J. Biochem. Biophys. Methods 42, 137–151 (2000).
Kang, H.T. & Hwang, E.S. Nicotinamide enhances mitochondria quality through autophagy activation in human cells. Aging Cell 8, 426–438 (2009).
Lin, J.W. et al. Differential requirement for ptf1a in endocrine and exocrine lineages of developing zebrafish pancreas. Dev. Biol. 270, 474–486 (2004).
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and the DGIST R&D Program of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Technology of Korea (20160165 to Y.-S.L. and 20160172 to S.C.P.).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
H.T.K., J.T.P., and S.C.P. conceived and designed the experiments; H.T.K. elucidated lysosomal pH regulation by ATM and mitochondrial metabolic reprogramming by ATM inhibitor, and performed experiments including in vitro phosphorylation, confocal imaging, and flow cytometry detecting lysosomes, mitochondria, and autophagic flux; J.T.P. elucidated the effects of ATM inhibitor by HTS and performed wound-healing experiments and flow cytometry detecting lysosomes and mitochondria; K.C. elucidated the interactions between ATM and the V-ATPase V1 subunits, and performed subcellular fractionation; Y.K. performed site-directed mutagenesis; H.J.C.C. measured the frequency of abnormal nuclear morphology and performed neutral comet assays; C.W.J. assisted with HTS and wound-healing experiments; Y.-S.L. performed experiments with ATM shRNA and ATR inhibitor; H.T.K. and J.T.P. analyzed the data; J.T.P. supervised all experiments; J.T.P., H.T.K., Y.-S.L., and S.C.P. wrote and edited the paper.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Text and Figures
Supplementary Results, Supplementary Tables 1–4 and Supplementary Figures 1–15 (PDF 5007 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kang, H., Park, J., Choi, K. et al. Chemical screening identifies ATM as a target for alleviating senescence. Nat Chem Biol 13, 616–623 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2342
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2342
This article is cited by
-
Biomarkers of aging
Science China Life Sciences (2023)
-
Nintedanib induces senolytic effect via STAT3 inhibition
Cell Death & Disease (2022)
-
Co-inhibition of ATM and ROCK synergistically improves cell proliferation in replicative senescence by activating FOXM1 and E2F1
Communications Biology (2022)
-
Potential Role of Polyphenolic Flavonoids as Senotherapeutic Agents in Degenerative Diseases and Geroprotection
Pharmaceutical Medicine (2022)
-
Strategies for targeting senescent cells in human disease
Nature Aging (2021)