scholarly journals Glucose Metabolism in Cancer: The Warburg Effect and Beyond

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sminu Bose ◽  
Cissy Zhang ◽  
Anne Le
Keyword(s):  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Cancer Metabolism ◽  
Cancer Therapies ◽  
Otto Warburg ◽  
New Cancer Therapies ◽  
Open The Doors ◽  
The Warburg Effect

AbstractOtto Warburg observed a peculiar phenomenon in 1924, unknowingly laying the foundation for the field of cancer metabolism. While his contemporaries hypothesized that tumor cells derived the energy required for uncontrolled replication from proteolysis and lipolysis, Warburg instead found them to rapidly consume glucose, converting it to lactate even in the presence of oxygen. The significance of this finding, later termed the Warburg effect, went unnoticed by the broader scientific community at that time. The field of cancer metabolism lay dormant for almost a century awaiting advances in molecular biology and genetics, which would later open the doors to new cancer therapies [2, 3].

scholarly journals The Role of Glucose Metabolism and Glucose-Associated Signalling in Cancer

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1177391X0700100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Wittig ◽  
Johannes F. Coy
Keyword(s):  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Genetic Manipulation ◽  
Aerobic Glycolysis ◽  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Pentose Phosphate ◽  
Pharmacological Intervention ◽  
Otto Warburg ◽  
The Warburg Effect ◽  
Glycolytic Phenotype

Aggressive carcinomas ferment glucose to lactate even in the presence of oxygen. This particular metabolism, termed aerobic glycolysis, the glycolytic phenotype, or the Warburg effect, was discovered by Nobel laureate Otto Warburg in the 1920s. Since these times, controversial discussions about the relevance of the fermentation of glucose by tumours took place; however, a majority of cancer researchers considered the Warburg effect as a non-causative epiphenomenon. Recent research demonstrated, that several common oncogenic events favour the expression of the glycolytic phenotype. Moreover, a suppression of the phenotypic features by either substrate limitation, pharmacological intervention, or genetic manipulation was found to mediate potent tumour-suppressive effects. The discovery of the transketolase-like 1 (TKTL1) enzyme in aggressive cancers may deliver a missing link in the interpretation of the Warburg effect. TKTL1-activity could be the basis for a rapid fermentation of glucose in aggressive carcinoma cells via the pentose phosphate pathway, which leads to matrix acidification, invasive growth, and ultimately metastasis. TKTL1 expression in certain non-cancerous tissues correlates with aerobic formation of lactate and rapid fermentation of glucose, which may be required for the prevention of advanced glycation end products and the suppression of reactive oxygen species. There is evidence, that the activity of this enzyme and the Warburg effect can be both protective or destructive for the organism. These results place glucose metabolism to the centre of pathogenesis of several civilisation related diseases and raise concerns about the high glycaemic index of various food components commonly consumed in western diets.

scholarly journals Proton export drives the Warburg Effect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shonagh Russell ◽  
Liping Xu ◽  
Yoonseok Kam ◽  
Dominique Abrahams ◽  
Bryce Ordway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Cancer Metabolism ◽  
Aerobic Glycolysis ◽  
Lactate Production ◽  
Glycolytic Enzymes ◽  
Hek293 Cells ◽  
Driver Mutations ◽  
The Warburg Effect

Aggressive cancers commonly ferment glucose to lactic acid at high rates, even in the presence of oxygen. This is known as aerobic glycolysis, or the “Warburg Effect”. It is widely assumed that this is a consequence of the upregulation of glycolytic enzymes. Oncogenic drivers can increase the expression of most proteins in the glycolytic pathway, including the terminal step of exporting H+ equivalents from the cytoplasm. Proton exporters maintain an alkaline cytoplasmic pH, which can enhance all glycolytic enzyme activities, even in the absence of oncogene-related expression changes. Based on this observation, we hypothesized that increased uptake and fermentative metabolism of glucose could be driven by the expulsion of H+ equivalents from the cell. To test this hypothesis, we stably transfected lowly-glycolytic MCF-7, U2-OS, and glycolytic HEK293 cells to express proton exporting systems: either PMA1 (yeast H+-ATPase) or CAIX (carbonic anhydrase 9). The expression of either exporter in vitro enhanced aerobic glycolysis as measured by glucose consumption, lactate production, and extracellular acidification rate. This resulted in an increased intracellular pH, and metabolomic analyses indicated that this was associated with an increased flux of all glycolytic enzymes upstream of pyruvate kinase. These cells also demonstrated increased migratory and invasive phenotypes in vitro, and these were recapitulated in vivo by more aggressive behavior, whereby the acid-producing cells formed higher grade tumors with higher rates of metastases. Neutralizing tumor acidity with oral buffers reduced the metastatic burden. Therefore, cancer cells with increased H+ export increase intracellular alkalization, even without oncogenic driver mutations, and this is sufficient to alter cancer metabolism towards a Warburg phenotype.

scholarly journals Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Represses the Warburg Effect and Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition in Hypoxic NSCLC Cells via the HIF-1α/PFKP Axis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linling Zhang ◽  
Jingjing Ke ◽  
Shengping Min ◽  
Nan Wu ◽  
Fei Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Cell Lines ◽  
Hyperbaric Oxygen ◽  
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Oxygen Therapy ◽  
Nsclc Cell ◽  
Glycolytic Flux ◽  
Mesenchymal Transition ◽  
The Warburg Effect

BackgroundTumor cells initiate hypoxia-induced mechanisms to fuel cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis, largely mediated by low O2-responsive Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 Alpha (HIF-1α). Therefore, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) is now being studied in cancer patients, but its impact upon non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell metabolism remains uncharacterized.MethodsWe employed the NSCLC cell lines A549 and H1299 for in vitro studies. Glucose uptake, pyruvate, lactate, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assays were used to assess aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect). A quantitative glycolytic flux model was used to analyze the flux contributions of HIF-1α-induced glucose metabolism genes. We used a Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) murine model to measure lung tumorigenesis in C57BL/6J mice.ResultsHBO suppressed hypoxia-induced HIF-1α expression and downstream HIF-1α signaling in NSCLC cells. One HIF-1α-induced glucose metabolism gene—Phosphofructokinase, Platelet (PFKP)—most profoundly enhanced glycolytic flux under both low- and high-glucose conditions. HBO suppressed hypoxia-induced PFKP transactivation and gene expression via HIF-1α downregulation. HBO’s suppression of the Warburg effect, suppression of hyperproliferation, and suppression of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in hypoxic NSCLC cell lines is mediated by the HIF-1α/PFKP axis. In vivo, HBO therapy inhibited murine LLC lung tumor growth in a Pfkp-dependent manner.ConclusionsHBO’s repression of the Warburg effect, repression of hyperproliferation, and repression of EMT in hypoxic NSCLC cells is dependent upon HIF-1α downregulation. HIF-1α’s target gene PFKP functions as a central mediator of HBO’s effects in hypoxic NSCLC cells and may represent a metabolic vulnerability in NSCLC tumors.

scholarly journals III. Cellular ultrastructures in situ as key to understanding tumor energy metabolism: biological significance of the Warburg effect

F1000Research ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Halina Witkiewicz ◽  
Phil Oh ◽  
Jan E Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Cancer Metabolism ◽  
Biological Significance ◽  
Tissue Growth ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Intermediate Form ◽  
Malignant Cells ◽  
Metabolic Switch ◽  
The Warburg Effect

Despite the universality of metabolic pathways, malignant cells were found to have their metabolism reprogrammed to generate energy by glycolysis even under normal oxygen concentrations (the Warburg effect). Therefore, the pathway energetically 18 times less efficient than oxidative phosphorylation was implicated to match increased energy requirements of growing tumors. The paradox was explained by an abnormally high rate of glucose uptake, assuming unlimited availability of substrates for tumor growth in vivo. However, ultrastructural analysis of tumor vasculature morphogenesis showed that the growing tissue regions did not have continuous blood supply and intermittently depended on autophagy for survival. Erythrogenic autophagy, and resulting ATP generation by glycolysis, appeared critical to initiating vasculature formation where it was missing. This study focused on ultrastructural features that reflected metabolic switch from aerobic to anaerobic. Morphological differences between and within different types of cells were evident in tissue sections. In cells undergoing nucleo-cytoplasmic conversion into erythrosomes (erythrogenesis), gradual changes led to replacing mitochondria with peroxisomes, through an intermediate form connected to endoplasmic reticulum. Those findings related to the issue of peroxisome biogenesis and to the phenomenon of hemogenic endothelium. Mitochondria were compacted also during mitosis. In vivo, cells that lost and others that retained capability to use oxygen coexisted side-by-side; both types were important for vasculature morphogenesis and tissue growth. Once passable, the new vasculature segment could deliver external oxygen and nutrients. Nutritional and redox status of microenvironment had similar effect on metabolism of malignant and non-malignant cells demonstrating the necessity to maintain structure-energy equivalence in all living cells. The role of glycolysis in initiating vasculature formation, and in progression of cell cycle through mitosis, indicated that Warburg effect had a fundamental biological significance extending to non-malignant tissues. The approach used here could facilitate integration of accumulated cyber knowledge on cancer metabolism into predictive science.

scholarly journals Dysfunction of an energy sensor NFE2L1 triggers uncontrollable AMPK signal and glucose metabolism reprogramming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiufang Yang ◽  
Wenshan Zhao ◽  
Yadi Xing ◽  
Peng Li ◽  
Xiaowen Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Metabolic Diseases ◽  
Energy State ◽  
Glucose Deprivation ◽  
Cancer Development ◽  
Energy Sensor ◽  
Dual Sensor ◽  
Glycolysis Pathway ◽  
The Warburg Effect

AbstractNFE2L1 (also called Nrf1) acts a core regulator of redox signaling and metabolism homeostasis, and thus its dysfunction results in multiple systemic metabolic diseases. However, the molecular mechanism(s) by which NFE2L1 regulates glycose and lipid metabolism is still elusive. Here, we found that the loss of NFE2L1 in human HepG2 cells led to a lethal phenotype upon glucose deprivation. The uptake of glucose was also affected by NFE2L1 deficiency. Further experiments unveiled that although the glycosylation of NFE2L1 was monitored through the glycolysis pathway, it enabled to sense the energy state and directly interacted with AMPK. These indicate that NFE2L1 can serve as a dual sensor and regulator of glucose homeostasis. In-depth sights into transcriptome, metabolome and seahorse data further unraveled that glucose metabolism was reprogrammed by disruption of NFE2L1, so as to aggravate the Warburg effect in NFE2L1-silenced hepatoma cells, along with the mitochondrial damage observed under the electron microscope. Collectively, these demonstrate that disfunction of NFE2L1 triggers the uncontrollable signaling by AMPK towards glucose metabolism reprogramming in the liver cancer development.

Targeting Key Transporters in Tumor Glycolysis as a Novel Anticancer Strategy

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunli Shi ◽  
Shengnan Liu ◽  
Shabir Ahmad ◽  
Qingzhi Gao
Keyword(s):  
Anticancer Agents ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Drug Transport ◽  
Cancer Metabolism ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Drug Uptake ◽  
Metabolic Characteristics ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
Theranostic Agents ◽  
The Warburg Effect

Increased glycolysis has been one of the metabolic characteristics known as the Warburg effect. The functional and therapeutic importance of the Warburg effect in targeted therapy is scientifically recognized and the glucose metabolic pathway has become a desirable target of anticancer strategies. Glucose transporters (GLUTs) play an important role in cancer glycolysis to sustain cancer cell proliferation, metastasis and survival. Utilizing the knowledge of differential expression and biological functions of GLUTs offers us the possibility of designing and delivering chemotherapeutics toward targeted tumor tissues for improved cancer selectivity. Inhibition of glucose uptake or glycolysis may effectively kill hypoxic cancer cells. Facilitative drug uptake via active transportation provides the potential opportunity to circumvent the drug resistance in chemotherapy. GLUTs as the hallmarks and biotargets of cancer metabolism enable the design and development of novel targeted theranostic agents. In this updated review, we examine the current scenario of the GLUTs as strategic targets in cancer and the unique concepts for discovery and development of GLUTs-targeted anticancer agents. We highlight the recent progresses on structural biology and underlying mechanism studies of GLUTs, with a brief introduction to the computational approaches in GLUT-mediated drug transport and tumor targeting.

scholarly journals Cancer metabolism in space and time: Beyond the Warburg effect

2017 ◽  
Vol 1858 (8) ◽  
pp. 556-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Danhier ◽  
Piotr Bański ◽  
Valéry L Payen ◽  
Debora Grasso ◽  
Luigi Ippolito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Cancer Metabolism ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
The Warburg Effect

scholarly journals Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) Signaling in Glucose Metabolism in Colorectal Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6434
Author(s):  
Aldona Kasprzak
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Growth Factor ◽  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Mapk Signaling ◽  
Colorectal Carcinogenesis ◽  
Insulin Like Growth Factor ◽  
Aberrant Expression ◽  
The Warburg Effect

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common aggressive carcinoma types worldwide, characterized by unfavorable curative effect and poor prognosis. Epidemiological data re-vealed that CRC risk is increased in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its serum components (e.g., hyperglycemia). High glycemic index diets, which chronically raise post-prandial blood glucose, may at least in part increase colon cancer risk via the insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway. However, the underlying mechanisms linking IGF-1 and MetS are still poorly understood. Hyperactivated glucose uptake and aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect) are considered as a one of six hallmarks of cancer, including CRC. However, the role of insulin/IGF-1 signaling during the acquisition of the Warburg metabolic phenotypes by CRC cells is still poorly understood. It most likely results from the interaction of multiple processes, directly or indirectly regulated by IGF-1, such as activation of PI3K/Akt/mTORC, and Raf/MAPK signaling pathways, activation of glucose transporters (e.g., GLUT1), activation of key glycolytic enzymes (e.g., LDHA, LDH5, HK II, and PFKFB3), aberrant expression of the oncogenes (e.g., MYC, and KRAS) and/or overexpression of signaling proteins (e.g., HIF-1, TGF-β1, PI3K, ERK, Akt, and mTOR). This review describes the role of IGF-1 in glucose metabolism in physiology and colorectal carcinogenesis, including the role of the insulin/IGF system in the Warburg effect. Furthermore, current therapeutic strategies aimed at repairing impaired glucose metabolism in CRC are indicated.

scholarly journals Everolimus regulates the activity of gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cells by targeting the Warburg effect via PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Cui ◽  
Yao Guo ◽  
Heshui Wu ◽  
Jiongxin Xiong ◽  
Tao Peng
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Cell Viability ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Warburg Effect ◽  
Aerobic Glycolysis ◽  
Mtor Signaling ◽  
Glucose Transporter 1 ◽  
Pancreatic Cancer Cells ◽  
The Warburg Effect

Abstract Background Gemcitabine (GEM) resistance remains a significant clinical challenge in pancreatic cancer treatment. Here, we investigated the therapeutic utility of everolimus (Evr), an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), in targeting the Warburg effect to overcome GEM resistance in pancreatic cancer. Methods The effect of Evr and/or mTOR overexpression or GEM on cell viability, migration, apoptosis, and glucose metabolism (Warburg effect) was evaluated in GEM-sensitive (GEMsen) and GEM-resistant (GEMres) pancreatic cancer cells. Results We demonstrated that the upregulation of mTOR enhanced cell viability and favored the Warburg effect in pancreatic cancer cells via the regulation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. However, this effect was counteracted by Evr, which inhibited aerobic glycolysis by reducing the levels of glucose, lactic acid, and adenosine triphosphate and suppressing the expression of glucose transporter 1, lactate dehydrogenase-B, hexokinase 2, and pyruvate kinase M2 in GEMsen and GEMres cells. Evr also promoted apoptosis by upregulating the pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and cytochrome-c and downregulating the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. GEM was minimally effective in suppressing GEMres cell activity, but the therapeutic effectiveness of Evr against pancreatic cancer growth was greater in GEMres cells than that in GEMsen cells. In vivo studies confirmed that while GEM failed to inhibit the progression of GEMres tumors, Evr significantly decreased the volume of GEMres tumors while suppressing tumor cell proliferation and enhancing tumor apoptosis in the presence of GEM. Conclusions Evr treatment may be a promising strategy to target the growth and activity of GEM-resistant pancreatic cancer cells by regulating glucose metabolism via inactivation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling.

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