Modified (2′-deoxy)adenosines activate autophagy primarily through AMPK/ULK1-dependent pathway

Autophagy is a conserved self-digestion process, which governs regulated degradation of cellular components. Autophagy is upregulated upon energy shortage sensed by AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK). Autophagy activators might be contemplated as therapies for metabolic neurodegenerative diseases and obesity, as well as cancer, considering tumor-suppressive functions of autophagy. Among them, 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAr), a nucleoside precursor of the active phosphorylated AMP analog, is the most commonly used pharmacological modulator of AMPK activity, despite its multiple reported “off-target” effects. Here, we assessed the autophagy/mitophagy activation ability of a small set of (2′-deoxy)adenosine derivatives and analogs using a fluorescent reporter assay and immunoblotting analysis. The first two leader compounds, 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-2′-deoxyadenosine and -adenosine, are nucleoside forms of major oxidative DNA and RNA lesions. The third, a derivative of inactive N⁶-methyladenosine with a metabolizable phosphate-masking group, exhibited the highest activity in the series. These compounds primarily contributed to the activation of AMPK and outperformed AICAr; however, retaining the activity in knockout cell lines for AMPK (ΔAMPK) and its upstream regulator SIRT1 (ΔSIRT1) suggests that AMPK is not a main cellular target. Overall, we confirmed the prospects of searching for autophagy activators among (2′-deoxy)adenosine derivatives and demonstrated the applicability of the phosphate-masking strategy for increasing their efficacy.