OGFOD1 enables AML chemo- and nutrient stress resistance by regulating protein synthesis.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) commonly relapses after initial chemotherapy response. We assessed metabolic adaptations in chemoresistant cells in vivo before overt relapse, identifying altered branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) levels in patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and immunophenotypically identified leukemia stem cells from AML patients. Notably, this was associated with increased BCAA transporter expression with low BCAA catabolism. Restricting BCAAs further reduced chemoresistant AML cells, but relapse still occurred. Among the persisting cells, we found an unexpected increase in protein production. This was accompanied by elevated translation of 2-oxoglutarate- and iron-dependent oxygenase 1 (OGFOD1), a known ribosomal dioxygenase that adjusts the fidelity of tRNA anticodon pairing with coding mRNA. We found that OGFOD1 upregulates protein synthesis in AML, driving disease aggressiveness. Inhibiting OGFOD1 impaired translation processing, decreased protein synthesis and improved animal survival even with chemoresistant AML while sparing normal hematopoiesis. Leukemic cells can therefore persist despite the stress of chemotherapy and nutrient deprivation through adaptive control of translation. Targeting OGFOD1 may offer a distinctive, translation-modifying means of reducing the chemopersisting cells that drive relapse.