2-Hydroxyglutarate is a compound formed from isocitric acid, a component of the TCA cycle. Isocitric acid becomes dehydrogenated by isocitrate dehydrogenase using NADP as a cofactor, and forming oxoglutaric acid. Oxoglutaric acid then forms 2-hydroxyglutarate in a reaction catalyzed by a mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 enzyme, which also uses NADP as a cofactor. Normally, the isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 enzyme, encoded by the IDH2 gene, is responsible for the formation of 2-oxoglutaric acid from isocitrate. However, some gain-of-functions mutations to the IDH2 gene allow the enzyme to produce 2-hydroxyglutarate instead. This functionality is associated with several types of cancer, including glioma and acute myeloid leukemia. This is due to the buildup of 2-hydroxyglutarate, which inhibits several enzymes which rely on 2-oxoglutaric acid, such as methylcytosine dioxygenase and lysine-specific demethylase 2A. Both of these enzymes use 2-oxoglutarate to demethylate DNA, and when repressed, allow DNA to become hypermethylated. This in turn changes which genes are normally expressed, as methylation is used to suppress genes, and can lead to the expression of oncogenes or the repression of tumor-suppressing genes. This is the effect responsible for 2-hydroxyglutarate in cancer and other diseases.

The Oncogenic Action of 2-Hydroxyglutarate References