• Aerobic glycolysis suppresses p53 activity to provide selective protection from apoptosis upon loss of growth signals or inhibition of BCR-Abl

      Mason, Emily F.; Zhao, Yuxing; Goraksha-Hicks, Pankuri; Coloff, Jonathan L.; Gannon, Hugh S.; Jones, Stephen N.; Rathmell, Jeffrey C. (2010-10-15)
      Unlike the growth factor dependence of normal cells, cancer cells can maintain growth factor-independent glycolysis and survival through expression of oncogenic kinases, such as BCR-Abl. Although targeted kinase inhibition can promote cancer cell death, therapeutic resistance develops frequently, and further mechanistic understanding is needed. Cell metabolism may be central to this cell death pathway, as we have shown that growth factor deprivation leads to decreased glycolysis that promotes apoptosis via p53 activation and induction of the proapoptotic protein Puma. Here, we extend these findings to show that elevated glucose metabolism, characteristic of cancer cells, can suppress protein kinase Cdelta (PKCdelta)-dependent p53 activation to maintain cell survival after growth factor withdrawal. In contrast, DNA damage-induced p53 activation was PKCdelta independent and was not metabolically sensitive. Both stresses required p53 Ser(18) phosphorylation for maximal activity but led to unique patterns of p53 target gene expression, showing distinct activation and response pathways for p53 that were differentially regulated by metabolism. Consistent with oncogenic kinases acting to replace growth factors, treatment of BCR-Abl-expressing cells with the kinase inhibitor imatinib led to reduced metabolism and p53- and Puma-dependent cell death. Accordingly, maintenance of glucose uptake inhibited p53 activation and promoted imatinib resistance. Furthermore, inhibition of glycolysis enhanced imatinib sensitivity in BCR-Abl-expressing cells with wild-type p53 but had little effect on p53-null cells. These data show that distinct pathways regulate p53 after DNA damage and metabolic stress and that inhibiting glucose metabolism may enhance the efficacy of and overcome resistance to targeted molecular cancer therapies.
    • Identification of novel inhibitory metabolites and impact verification on growth and protein synthesis in mammalian cells

      Kuang, Bingyu; Dhara, Venkata Gayatri; Hoang, Duc; Jenkins, Jack; Ladiwala, Pranay; Tan, Yanglan; Shaffer, Scott A.; Galbraith, Shaun C.; Betenbaugh, Michael J.; Yoon, Seongkyu (2021-09-06)
      Mammalian cells consume large amount of nutrients during growth and production. However, endogenous metabolic inefficiencies often prevent cells to fully utilize nutrients to support growth and protein production. Instead, significant fraction of fed nutrients is diverted into extracellular accumulation of waste by-products and metabolites, further inhibiting proliferation and protein synthesis. In this study, an LC-MS/MS based metabolomics pipeline was used to screen Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) extracellular metabolites. Six out of eight identified inhibitory metabolites, caused by the inefficient cell metabolism, were not previously studied in CHO cells: aconitic acid, 2-hydroxyisocaproic acid, methylsuccinic acid, cytidine monophosphate, trigonelline, and n-acetyl putrescine. When supplemented back into a fed-batch culture, significant reduction in cellular growth was observed in the presence of each metabolite and all the identified metabolites were shown to impact the glycosylation of a model secreted antibody, with seven of these also reducing CHO cellular productivity (titer) and all eight inhibiting the formation of mono-galactosylated biantennary (G1F) and biantennary galactosylated (G2F) N-glycans. These inhibitory metabolites further impact the metabolism of cells, leading to a significant reduction in CHO cellular growth and specific productivity in fed-batch culture (maximum reductions of 27.2% and 40.6% respectively). In-depth pathway analysis revealed that these metabolites are produced when cells utilize major energy sources such as glucose and select amino acids (tryptophan, arginine, isoleucine, and leucine) for growth, maintenance, and protein production. Furthermore, these novel inhibitory metabolites were observed to accumulate in multiple CHO cell lines (CHO-K1 and CHO-GS) as well as HEK293 cell line. This study provides a robust and holistic methodology to incorporate global metabolomic analysis into cell culture studies for elucidation and structural verification of novel metabolites that participate in key metabolic pathways to growth, production, and post-translational modification in biopharmaceutical production.
    • Multiple signaling pathways promote B lymphocyte stimulator dependent B-cell growth and survival

      Woodland, Robert T.; Fox, Casey J.; Schmidt, Madelyn R.; Hammerman, Peter S.; Opferman, Joseph T.; Korsmeyer, Stanley J.; Hilbert, David M.; Thompson, Craig B. (2007-10-19)
      We investigated the mechanism by which B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS)/BAFF, a tumor necrosis factor superfamily ligand, promotes B-cell survival and resistance to atrophy. BLyS stimulation activates 2 independent signaling pathways, Akt/mTOR and Pim 2, associated with cell growth and survival. BLyS blocks the cell volume loss (atrophy) that freshly isolated B cells normally undergo when maintained in vitro while concurrently increasing glycolytic activity and overall metabolism. This atrophy resistance requires Akt/mTOR. We used a genetic approach to resolve the contributions of Akt/mTOR and Pim kinase pathways to BLyS-mediated survival. Pim 2-deficient B cells are readily protected from death by BLyS stimulation, but this protection is completely abrogated by treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin. Furthermore, rapamycin treatment in vivo significantly reduces both follicular and marginal zone B cells in Pim-deficient but not healthy hosts. BLyS-dependent survival requires the antiapoptotic protein Mcl-1. Mcl-1 protein levels rise and fall in response to BLyS addition and withdrawal, respectively, and conditional deletion of the Mcl-1 gene renders B cells refractory to BLyS-mediated protection. Because BlyS is required for the normal homeostasis of all B cells, these data suggest a therapeutic strategy simultaneously inhibiting mTOR and Pim 2 could target pathogenic B cells.
    • Suppression of oxidative metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis by the transcriptional corepressor RIP140 in mouse adipocytes

      Powelka, Aimee M.; Seth, Asha; Virbasius, Joseph V.; Kiskinis, Evangelos; Nicoloro, Sarah M.; Guilherme, Adilson L.; Tang, Xiaoqing; Straubhaar, Juerg R.; Cherniack, Andrew D.; Parker, Malcolm G.; et al. (2005-12-24)
      Using an siRNA-based screen, we identified the transcriptional corepressor RIP140 as a negative regulator of insulin-responsive hexose uptake and oxidative metabolism in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Affymetrix GeneChip profiling revealed that RIP140 depletion upregulates the expression of clusters of genes in the pathways of glucose uptake, glycolysis, TCA cycle, fatty acid oxidation, mitochondrial biogenesis, and oxidative phosphorylation in these cells. Conversely, we show that reexpression of RIP140 in mouse embryonic fibroblasts derived from RIP140-null mice downregulates expression of many of these same genes. Consistent with these microarray data, RIP140 gene silencing in cultured adipocytes increased both conversion of [14C]glucose to CO2 and mitochondrial oxygen consumption. RIP140-null mice, previously reported to resist weight gain on a high-fat diet, are shown here to display enhanced glucose tolerance and enhanced responsiveness to insulin compared with matched wild-type mice upon high-fat feeding. Mechanistically, RIP140 was found to require the nuclear receptor ERRalpha to regulate hexose uptake and mitochondrial proteins SDHB and CoxVb, although it likely acts through other nuclear receptors as well. We conclude that RIP140 is a major suppressor of adipocyte oxidative metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis, as well as a negative regulator of whole-body glucose tolerance and energy expenditure in mice.