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1 Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, 2 The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Requests for reprints: Chi V. Dang, Ross Research Building, Room 1032, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205. Phone: 410-955-2773; Fax: 410-955-0185; E-mail: cvdang{at}jhmi.edu.
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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| Oncogenes, Tumor Suppressors, and the Warburg Effect |
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Several oncogenes have been implicated in the Warburg effect. The AKT oncogene, which encodes a protein serine-threonine kinase, is associated with enhanced glucose uptake and aerobic glycolysis seemingly independent of HIF-1 (3). AKT mobilizes glucose transporters to the cell surface to enhance glucose uptake and activates hexokinase 2 (HK2) to phosphorylate and trap intracellular glucose. Through these effects, AKT is able to enhance glycolytic flux without affecting mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, thereby presumably contributing to the Warburg effect. The MYC oncogene, which is widely activated in human cancers, has also been implicated in the direct activation of aerobic glycolysis. The Myc transcription factor activates virtually all glycolytic enzyme genes and directly binds numerous glycolytic genes, including those encoding HK2, enolase, and LDHA (4). In immortalized rat fibroblasts, Myc is able to enhance aerobic glycolysis; however, activation of MYC in a human B cell model resulted in increased respiration that was associated with increased mitochondrial biogenesis (5). Elevated and sustained activation of MYC, however, is tightly associated with increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, which may cause mtDNA mutations that in turn contribute to dysfunctional mitochondria (6). Intriguingly, the tumor suppressor p53, which is frequently mutated in human cancers, also stimulates mitochondrial respiration by directly transactivating the SCO2 gene for synthesis of cytochrome c oxidase 2 (7). SCO2 is required for the assembly of the COXII (MTCO2) subunit into the cytochrome c oxidase complex, which is integral to the respiratory chain. Loss of either p53 or SCO2 expression results in a switch from cellular respiration to aerobic glycolysis, suggesting that inactivation of p53 in human cancers may directly contribute to the Warburg effect. In aggregate, these observations suggest that oncogenes or tumor suppressors could independently or cooperatively contribute to the Warburg effect.
Tumor progression, as modeled by serial transduction of normal human cells with immortalizing and oncogenic events, is associated with the emergence of the Warburg effect (8). Through comprehensive multidimensional metabolic profiling of stepwise transformed primary human cells, highly tumorigenic cells transformed by hTERT, large T antigen, small T antigen, and oncogenic H-Ras were found to have high rates of lactate production with low mitochondrial mass. In contrast, cells lacking H-Ras but transformed by the other three genes had high mitochondrial mass and a high oxygen consumption rate with lower lactate production. These results provide evidence that serial oncogenic activation transforms metabolism toward aerobic glycolysis.
| Oncogenic Activation of HIF and Aerobic Glycolysis |
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subunit that heterodimerizes with HIF-1ß to bind DNA. In high oxygen tension, HIF-1
is hydroxylated by prolyl hydroxylases (PHD) using
-ketoglutarate derived from the TCA cycle. The hydroxylated HIF-1
subunit is recognized by the von Hippel Lindau (VHL) protein and destined for degradation by proteasomes, such that HIF-1
is continuously synthesized and degraded under nonhypoxic conditions. Hypoxia is a pathophysiologic stimulus of anaerobic glycolysis through stabilization of HIF-1 and its direct transactivation of glycolytic enzyme genes. Hence, adaptation to the hypoxic tumor microenvironment results in increased glucose uptake and lactate production.
In addition to hypoxia, oncogenic events have been linked to stabilization of HIF in the presence of adequate oxygen. Activation of the Src oncogene increased in vivo tumorigenecity as well as HIF-1 levels in nonhypoxic conditions (9). Oncogenic H-Ras has been reported to increase the level of HIF-1 (10), and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling may stabilize HIF-1 (9). In renal cell carcinoma, mutations in the VHL tumor suppressor disrupt its function, which is necessary for the oxygen-dependent prolyl hydroxylation and proteasomal degradation of HIF-1 (11). Moreover, mutations of the TCA cycle tumor suppressors, SDH and FH, have also been linked to the stabilization of HIF. In particular, prolyl hydroxylation of HIF-1
requires
-ketoglutarate as a substrate, which is converted to succinate, such that deficiency of SDH or FH decreases
-ketoglutarate or increases succinate, thereby inhibiting the degradation of HIF-1 (12). Taken together, activation of certain oncogenic pathways stabilizes HIF-1 protein under nonhypoxic conditions, resulting in activation of glycolytic metabolism. However, activation of glycolytic flux alone would not account for the Warburg effect, which is also associated with diminished mitochondrial function that has been thought to decrease passively due to the lack of oxygen.
| PDK1 and Aerobic Glycolysis |
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| Does Aerobic Glycolysis Participate in Tumorigenesis? |
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Aerobic glycolysis may also participate in tumorigenesis, which is characterized by cellular immortalization and subsequent malignant transformation. Recent evidence suggests that increased aerobic glycolysis could contribute to immortalization of cells. A recent expression cloning study identified two glycolytic genes, encoding glucose phosphate isomerase and phosphoglycerate mutase, capable of immortalizing primary human cells, increasing glycolysis, and attenuating mitochondrial generation of reactive oxygen species that are known to cause cellular senescence (20). The loss of classic tumor suppressor genes encoding enzymes of the TCA cycle also suggests that aerobic glycolysis may significantly contribute to tumorigenesis; however, it should be noted that the stabilization of HIF-1 in these tumors may convey other advantages such as the induction of angiogenesis. In this regard, the Warburg effect could be considered as a positive modifier of cancer, such that it may not be causative but rather facilitates tumor progression.
In addition to metabolic advantages of increased aerobic glycolysis, the nonglycolytic functions of glycolytic enzymes may also contribute to tumorigenesis through the antiapoptotic effects of HK2, cell cycledependent transcriptional regulation by LDH and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and enhanced cell motility by glucose phosphate isomerase (autocrine motility factor; ref. 4). Taken together, the switch to glycolytic metabolism may contribute to tumor development through enhanced glycolytic flux and/or the multifaceted functions of glycolytic enzymes. It should be noted, however, that the role of normal mitochondrial function in tumorigenesis is not well defined, and hence the recent findings on cancer's molecular sweet tooth should not dissuade from the strife for a deeper understanding of mitochondrial function in cancer glucose metabolism.
| Acknowledgments |
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We thank Drs. Lawrence Gardner, Feng Li, and Karen Zeller for comments.
| Footnotes |
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Received 4/24/06. Revised 6/ 8/06. Accepted 6/23/06.
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