- Golbourn, Brian;
- Halbert, Matthew;
- Halligan, Katharine;
- Varadharajan, Srinidhi;
- Krug, Brian;
- Mbah, Nneka;
- Kabir, Nisha;
- Stanton, Ann-Catherine;
- Locke, Abigail;
- Casillo, Stephanie;
- Zhao, Yanhua;
- Sanders, Lauren;
- Cheney, Allison;
- Mullett, Steven;
- Chen, Apeng;
- Wassell, Michelle;
- Andren, Anthony;
- Perez, Jennifer;
- Jane, Esther;
- Premkumar, Daniel;
- Koncar, Robert;
- Mirhadi, Shideh;
- McCarl, Lauren;
- Chang, Yue-Fang;
- Wu, Yijen;
- Gatesman, Taylor;
- Cruz, Andrea;
- Zapotocky, Michal;
- Hu, Baoli;
- Kohanbash, Gary;
- Wang, Xiuxing;
- Wang, Xiuxing;
- Vartanian, Alenoush;
- Moran, Michael;
- Lieberman, Frank;
- Amankulor, Nduka;
- Wendell, Stacy;
- Vaske, Olena;
- Panigrahy, Ashok;
- Felker, James;
- Bertrand, Kelsey;
- Kleinman, Claudia;
- Rich, Jeremy;
- Friedlander, Robert;
- Broniscer, Alberto;
- Lyssiotis, Costas;
- Jabado, Nada;
- Pollack, Ian;
- Mack, Stephen;
- Agnihotri, Sameer
Diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) bearing driver mutations of histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27M) are incurable brain tumors with unique epigenomes. Here, we generated a syngeneic H3K27M mouse model to study the amino acid metabolic dependencies of these tumors. H3K27M mutant cells were highly dependent on methionine. Interrogating the methionine cycle dependency through a short-interfering RNA screen identified the enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase 2A (MAT2A) as a critical vulnerability in these tumors. This vulnerability was not mediated through the canonical mechanism of MTAP deletion; instead, DMG cells have lower levels of MAT2A protein, which is mediated by negative feedback induced by the metabolite decarboxylated S-adenosyl methionine. Depletion of residual MAT2A induces global depletion of H3K36me3, a chromatin mark of transcriptional elongation perturbing oncogenic and developmental transcriptional programs. Moreover, methionine-restricted diets extended survival in multiple models of DMG in vivo. Collectively, our results suggest that MAT2A presents an exploitable therapeutic vulnerability in H3K27M gliomas.