scholarly journals MicroRNA-16-1-3p Represses Breast Tumor Growth and Metastasis by Inhibiting PGK1-Mediated Warburg Effect

Author(s):  
Tianxin Ye ◽  
Yingchun Liang ◽  
Deyu Zhang ◽  
Xuewu Zhang

The Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis) is a hallmark of cancer and is becoming a promising target for diagnosis and therapy. Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) is the first adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-generating glycolytic enzyme in the aerobic glycolysis pathway and plays an important role in cancer development and progression. However, how microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate PGK1-mediated aerobic glycolysis remains unknown. Here, we show that miR-16-1-3p inhibits PGK1 expression by directly targeting its 3′-untranslated region. Through inhibition of PGK1, miR-16-1-3p suppressed aerobic glycolysis by decreasing glucose uptake, lactate and ATP production, and extracellular acidification rate, and increasing oxygen consumption rate in breast cancer cells. Aerobic glycolysis regulated by the miR-16-1-3p/PGK1 axis is critical for modulating breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. In breast cancer patients, miR-16-1-3p expression is negatively correlated with PGK1 expression and breast cancer lung metastasis. Our findings provide clues regarding the role of miR-16-1-3p as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer through PGK1 suppression. Targeting PGK1 through miR-16-1-3p could be a promising strategy for breast cancer therapy.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Han Zhao ◽  
Ping Zhao ◽  
Xingang Wang

BACKGROUND: Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) was overexpressed in many cancers, and high PKM2 expression was related with poor prognosis and chemoresistance. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the expression of PKM2 in breast cancer and analyzed the relation of PKM2 expression with chemotherapy resistance to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). We also investigated whether PKM2 could reverse chemoresistance in breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed in 130 surgical resected breast cancer tissues. 78 core needle biopsies were collected from breast cancer patients before neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The relation of PKM2 expression and multi-drug resistance to NAC was compared. The effect of PKM2 silencing or overexpression on Doxorubicin (DOX) sensitivity in the MCF-7 cells in vitro and in vivo was compared. RESULTS: PKM2 was intensively expressed in breast cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. In addition, high expression of PKM2 was associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. The NAC patients with high PKM2 expression had short survival. PKM2 was an independent prognostic predictor for surgical resected breast cancer and NAC patients. High PKM2 expression was correlated with neoadjuvant treatment resistance. High PKM2 expression significantly distinguished chemoresistant patients from chemosensitive patients. In vitro and in vivo knockdown of PKM2 expression decreases the resistance to DOX in breast cancer cells in vitro and tumors in vivo. CONCLUSION: PKM2 expression was associated with chemoresistance of breast cancers, and could be used to predict the chemosensitivity. Furthermore, targeting PKM2 could reverse chemoresistance, which provides an effective treatment methods for patients with breast cancer.


Oncogenesis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Huang ◽  
Yichao Hou ◽  
Xiaoling Weng ◽  
Wenjing Pang ◽  
Lidan Hou ◽  
...  

AbstractExploring novel anticancer drugs to optimize the efficacy may provide a benefit for the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). Disulfiram (DSF), as an antialcoholism drug, is metabolized into diethyldithiocarbamate-copper complex (CuET) in vivo, which has been reported to exert the anticancer effects on various tumors in preclinical studies. However, little is known about whether CuET plays an anti-cancer role in CRC. In this study, we found that CuET had a marked effect on suppressing CRC progression both in vitro and in vivo by reducing glucose metabolism. Mechanistically, using RNA-seq analysis, we identified ALDH1A3 as a target gene of CuET, which promoted cell viability and the capacity of clonal formation and inhibited apoptosis in CRC cells. MicroRNA (miR)-16-5p and 15b-5p were shown to synergistically regulate ALDH1A3, which was negatively correlated with both of them and inversely correlated with the survival of CRC patients. Notably, using co-immunoprecipitation followed with mass spectrometry assays, we identified PKM2 as a direct downstream effector of ALDH1A3 that stabilized PKM2 by reducing ubiquitination. Taken together, we disclose that CuET treatment plays an active role in inhibiting CRC progression via miR-16-5p and 15b-5p/ALDH1A3/PKM2 axis–mediated aerobic glycolysis pathway.


Oncogene ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengpeng Zhu ◽  
Fang He ◽  
Yixuan Hou ◽  
Gang Tu ◽  
Qiao Li ◽  
...  

AbstractThe hostile hypoxic microenvironment takes primary responsibility for the rapid expansion of breast cancer tumors. However, the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Here, using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, we identified a hypoxia-induced long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) KB-1980E6.3, which is aberrantly upregulated in clinical breast cancer tissues and closely correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. The enhanced lncRNA KB-1980E6.3 facilitates breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) self-renewal and tumorigenesis under hypoxic microenvironment both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, lncRNA KB-1980E6.3 recruited insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) to form a lncRNA KB-1980E6.3/IGF2BP1/c-Myc signaling axis that retained the stability of c-Myc mRNA through increasing binding of IGF2BP1 with m6A-modified c-Myc coding region instability determinant (CRD) mRNA. In conclusion, we confirm that lncRNA KB-1980E6.3 maintains the stemness of BCSCs through lncRNA KB-1980E6.3/IGF2BP1/c-Myc axis and suggest that disrupting this axis might provide a new therapeutic target for refractory hypoxic tumors.


Oncogene ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pantano ◽  
Martine Croset ◽  
Keltouma Driouch ◽  
Natalia Bednarz-Knoll ◽  
Michele Iuliani ◽  
...  

AbstractBone metastasis remains a major cause of mortality and morbidity in breast cancer. Therefore, there is an urgent need to better select high-risk patients in order to adapt patient’s treatment and prevent bone recurrence. Here, we found that integrin alpha5 (ITGA5) was highly expressed in bone metastases, compared to lung, liver, or brain metastases. High ITGA5 expression in primary tumors correlated with the presence of disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow aspirates from early stage breast cancer patients (n = 268; p = 0.039). ITGA5 was also predictive of poor bone metastasis-free survival in two separate clinical data sets (n = 855, HR = 1.36, p = 0.018 and n = 427, HR = 1.62, p = 0.024). This prognostic value remained significant in multivariate analysis (p = 0.028). Experimentally, ITGA5 silencing impaired tumor cell adhesion to fibronectin, migration, and survival. ITGA5 silencing also reduced tumor cell colonization of the bone marrow and formation of osteolytic lesions in vivo. Conversely, ITGA5 overexpression promoted bone metastasis. Pharmacological inhibition of ITGA5 with humanized monoclonal antibody M200 (volociximab) recapitulated inhibitory effects of ITGA5 silencing on tumor cell functions in vitro and tumor cell colonization of the bone marrow in vivo. M200 also markedly reduced tumor outgrowth in experimental models of bone metastasis or tumorigenesis, and blunted cancer-associated bone destruction. ITGA5 was not only expressed by tumor cells but also osteoclasts. In this respect, M200 decreased human osteoclast-mediated bone resorption in vitro. Overall, this study identifies ITGA5 as a mediator of breast-to-bone metastasis and raises the possibility that volociximab/M200 could be repurposed for the treatment of ITGA5-positive breast cancer patients with bone metastases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shonagh Russell ◽  
Liping Xu ◽  
Yoonseok Kam ◽  
Dominique Abrahams ◽  
Bryce Ordway ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simeng Zhang ◽  
Zhongyan Hua ◽  
Gen Ba ◽  
Ning Xu ◽  
Jianing Miao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Neuroblastoma (NB) is a common solid malignancy in children that is associated with a poor prognosis. Although the novel small molecular compound Dimethylaminomicheliolide (DMAMCL) has been shown to induce cell death in some tumors, little is known about its role in NB. Methods We examined the effect of DMAMCL on four NB cell lines (NPG, AS, KCNR, BE2). Cellular confluence, survival, apoptosis, and glycolysis were detected using Incucyte ZOOM, CCK-8 assays, Annexin V-PE/7-AAD flow cytometry, and Seahorse XFe96, respectively. Synergistic effects between agents were evaluated using CompuSyn and the effect of DMAMCL in vivo was evaluated using a xenograft mouse model. Phosphofructokinase-1, liver type (PFKL) expression was up- and down-regulated using overexpression plasmids or siRNA. Results When administered as a single agent, DMAMCL decreased cell proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner, increased the percentage of cells in SubG1 phase, and induced apoptosis in vitro, as well as inhibiting tumor growth and prolonging survival in tumor-bearing mice (NGP, BE2) in vivo. In addition, DMAMCL exerted synergistic effects when combined with etoposide or cisplatin in vitro and displayed increased antitumor effects when combined with etoposide in vivo compared to either agent alone. Mechanistically, DMAMCL suppressed aerobic glycolysis by decreasing glucose consumption, lactate excretion, and ATP production, as well as reducing the expression of PFKL, a key glycolysis enzyme, in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, PFKL overexpression attenuated DMAMCL-induced cell death, whereas PFKL silencing promoted NB cell death. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that DMAMCL exerts antitumor effects on NB both in vitro and in vivo by suppressing aerobic glycolysis and that PFKL could be a potential target of DMAMCL in NB.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Fu ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Peng Li ◽  
Li Pan ◽  
Ke Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play critical roles in tumorigenesis and progression of various cancers. We previously identified a novel upregulated circRNA, circBCBM1 (hsa_circ_0001944), in the context of breast cancer brain metastasis. However, the potential biological function and molecular mechanism of circBCBM1 in breast cancer brain metastasis remain largely unknown.Methods: In this reserch, we validated the expression and characterization of circBCBM1 through RT-qPCR, Sanger sequencing, RNase R assay and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Functional experiments were performed to determine the effect of circBCBM1 on growth and metastasis of 231-BR cells both in vitro and in vivo. The regulatory mechanisms among circBCBM1, miR-125a (has-miR-125a-5p), and BRD4 (bromodomain containing 4) were investigated by RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA pull-down, luciferase reporter assay and western blot. Results: Our findings demonstrated that circBCBM1 is a stable and cytoplasmic circRNA. Functionally, silencing of circBCBM1 led to decreased proliferation and migration of 231-BR cells whereas elevated circBCBM1 expression showed reverse effects in vitro. These findings were confirmed in vivo in mouse models, as knockdown of circBCBM1 significantly decreased growth and brain metastases of 231-BR cells. Mechanistically, circBCBM1 functions as an endogenous miR-125a sponge to inhibit miR-125a activity, resulting in the upregulation of BRD4 expression and subsequent upregulation of MMP9 (matrix metallopeptidase 9) through Sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway. Importantly, circBCBM1 was markedly upregulated in the breast cancer brain metastasis cells and clinical tissue and plasma samples; besides, the overexpression of circBCBM1 in primary cancerous tissues was associated with shorter brain metastasis-free survival (BMFS) of breast cancer patients.Conclusions: These findings indicate that circBCBM1 is involved in breast cancer brain metastasis via circBCBM1/miR-125a/BRD4 axis, which sheds light on the pathogenic mechanism of circBCBM1 and provides translational evidence that circBCBM1 may serve as a novel diagnostic or prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target for breast cancer brain metastasis.


Author(s):  
Yihong Huang ◽  
Shuo Zheng ◽  
Ying Lin ◽  
Liming Ke

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive histological subtype of breast cancer. It has been reported that that circRNA circ-ERBB2 (circBase ID: hsa_circ_0007766) is mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of TNBC cells and promotes the proliferation and invasion of TNBC cells. This study aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of circ-ERBB2 regulating the progression of TNBC. Expression of circ-ERBB2 was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Loss-of-function experiments were performed to investigate the function of circ-ERBB2 in TNBC cells in vitro and in vivo . The regulatory mechanism of circ-ERBB2 was surveyed by bioinformatics analysis, dual-luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) or RNA pull-down assays. We observed that Circ-ERBB2 was overexpressed in TNBC, and TNBC patients with high circ-ERBB2 expression had a poor prognosis. Functionally, circ-ERBB2 knockdown constrained TNBC growth in vivo and reduced Warburg effect, accelerated apoptosis, repressed proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC cell in vitro . Mechanically, circ-ERBB2 sponged miR-136-5p to elevate pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) expression. In conclusion, circ-ERBB2 facilitated Warburg effect and malignancy of TNBC cells by the miR-136-5p/PDK4 pathway, at least in part. This study supported circ-ERBB2 as a prognostic indicator for TNBC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin M. Attia ◽  
Samia A. Shouman ◽  
Salama A. Salama ◽  
Cristina Ivan ◽  
Abdelrahman M. Elsayed ◽  
...  

Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-7 inhibitors are emerging as promising drugs for the treatment of different types of cancer that show chemotherapy resistance. Evaluation of the effects of CDK7 inhibitor, THZ1, alone and combined with tamoxifen is of paramount importance. Thus, in the current work, we assessed the effects of THZ1 and/or tamoxifen in two estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer cell lines (MCF7) and its tamoxifen resistant counterpart (LCC2) in vitro and in xenograft mouse models of breast cancer. Furthermore, we evaluated the expression of CDK7 in clinical samples from breast cancer patients. Cell viability, apoptosis, and genes involved in cell cycle regulation and tamoxifen resistance were determined. Tumor volume and weight, proliferation marker (Ki67), angiogenic marker (CD31), and apoptotic markers were assayed. Bioinformatic data indicated CDK7 expression was associated with negative prognosis, enhanced pro-oncogenic pathways, and decreased response to tamoxifen. Treatment with THZ1 enhanced tamoxifen-induced cytotoxicity, while it inhibited genes involved in tumor progression in MCF-7 and LCC2 cells. In vivo, THZ1 boosted the effect of tamoxifen on tumor weight and tumor volume, reduced Ki67 and CD31 expression, and increased apoptotic cell death. Our findings identify CDK7 as a possible therapeutic target for breast cancer whether it is sensitive or resistant to tamoxifen therapy.


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