# Cancer-associated alterations of the dihydrouridine landscape in kidney cancer

> **NIH NIH R21** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $194,861

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Significance: Numerous RNA modifying enzymes are critical for human health but the locations and
stoichiometry of most RNA modifications are currently unknown. This is primarily due to the lack of high-
throughput methods to detect the majority of modified nucleosides. Dihydrouridine (D) is an intriguing and
understudied RNA modification that profoundly affects RNA backbone conformation, and, as a result, RNA
metabolism. The RNA modifying enzymes that install dihydrouridine (D), called dihydrouridine synthases (DUS),
are overexpressed and predictive of worse patient outcomes in lung, kidney and bladder cancers. The
association of elevated DUS expression with poorer prognosis is consistent with a pathophysiological effect of
increased dihydrouridine at some sites, which could include increased stoichiometry of D at known target sites
or modification of new sites, or both. The specific RNA targets of DUS enzymes in cancer cells are unknown.
Approach: Here, we propose to develop technology for comprehensive genomic analysis of dihydrouridine (D)
(Aim 1) and use it to determine how the D landscape is altered in kidney cancer cells (Aim 2). Our approach
exploits unique chemical features of dihydrouridine to derivatize D nucleotides, enrich for D containing RNA, and
determine the locations of D with single-nucleotide resolution. Our preliminary data establish selectivity for D and
the ability to generate precise modification-dependent blocks to reverse transcriptase, which we will analyze by
Illumina sequencing. The probability of technical success is high: our laboratory is a technological pioneer in the
discovery of RNA modification sites by developing experimental and computational methods to map the locations
and quantify the relative abundance of novel mRNA modifications on a transcriptome-wide scale with single-
nucleotide resolution. This proposal leverages these accomplishments to develop new methods to study the
dihydrouridine landscape in human cells and reveal its dysregulation in cancer. The goal of this exploratory
project is to discover the specific RNA targets of the DUS1L and DUS3L enzymes whose overexpression predicts
poor prognosis in kidney cancer. Notably, DUS1L and DUS3L associate with polyadenylated RNA in cells and
so the D landscape is likely to be complex and include sites in mRNA that are currently undiscovered. Aim 1 will
develop high-throughput methods to define comprehensive targets of human DUS (1A) and medium-throughput
methods to measure absolute dihydrouridine stoichiometry at hundreds of sites in parallel (1B). In Aim 2, we will
use these methods to discover the targets of DUS1L and DUS3L and determine how the locations and
stoichiometry of D modifications are altered in clear cell renal cell carcinoma cell lines that express high levels
of DUS1L and DUS3L compared with matched DUS knockout cells (2A) and with non-transformed renal proximal
tubule epithelial cells (2B). We anticipate that the methods de...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10106604
- **Project number:** 5R21CA246118-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Wendy Victoria Gilbert
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $194,861
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-03-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10106604

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10106604, Cancer-associated alterations of the dihydrouridine landscape in kidney cancer (5R21CA246118-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10106604. Licensed CC0.

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