scholarly journals A Scaffold-Free 3-D Co-Culture Mimics the Major Features of the Reverse Warburg Effect In Vitro

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1900
Author(s):  
Florian Keller ◽  
Roman Bruch ◽  
Richard Schneider ◽  
Julia Meier-Hubberten ◽  
Mathias Hafner ◽  
...  

Most tumors consume large amounts of glucose. Concepts to explain the mechanisms that mediate the achievement of this metabolic need have proposed a switch of the tumor mass to aerobic glycolysis. Depending on whether primarily tumor or stroma cells undergo such a commutation, the terms ‘Warburg effect’ or ‘reverse Warburg effect’ were coined to describe the underlying biological phenomena. However, current in vitro systems relying on 2-D culture, single cell-type spheroids, or basal-membrane extract (BME/Matrigel)-containing 3-D structures do not thoroughly reflect these processes. Here, we aimed to establish a BME/Matrigel-free 3-D microarray cancer model to recapitulate the metabolic interplay between cancer and stromal cells that allows mechanistic analyses and drug testing. Human HT-29 colon cancer and CCD-1137Sk fibroblast cells were used in mono- and co-cultures as 2-D monolayers, spheroids, and in a cell-chip format. Metabolic patterns were studied with immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. In chip-based co-cultures, HT-29 cells showed facilitated 3-D growth and increased levels of hexokinase-2, TP53-induced glycolysis and apoptosis regulator (TIGAR), lactate dehydrogenase, and: translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 20 (TOMM20), when compared with HT-29 mono-cultures. Fibroblasts co-cultured with HT-29 cells expressed higher levels of mono-carboxylate transporter 4, hexokinase-2, microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3, and ubiquitin-binding protein p62 than in fibroblast mono-cultures, in both 2-D cultures and chips. Tetramethylrhodamin-methylester (TMRM) live-cell imaging of chip co-cultures revealed a higher mitochondrial potential in cancer cells than in fibroblasts. The findings demonstrate a crosstalk between cancer cells and fibroblasts that affects cellular growth and metabolism. Chip-based 3-D co-cultures of cancer cells and fibroblasts mimicked features of the reverse Warburg effect.

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jumpei F. Yamagishi ◽  
Tetsuhiro S. Hatakeyama

AbstractMetabolic behaviours of proliferating cells are often explained as a consequence of rational optimization of cellular growth rate, whereas microeconomics formulates consumption behaviours as optimization problems. Here, we pushed beyond the analogy to precisely map metabolism onto the theory of consumer choice. We thereby revealed the correspondence between long-standing mysteries in both fields: the Warburg effect, a seemingly wasteful but ubiquitous strategy where cells favour aerobic glycolysis over more energetically efficient oxidative phosphorylation, and Giffen behaviour, the unexpected consumer behaviour where a good is demanded more as its price rises. We identified the minimal, universal requirements for the Warburg effect: a trade-off between oxidative phosphorylation and aerobic glycolysis and complementarity, i.e. impossibility of substitution for different metabolites. Thus, various hypotheses for the Warburg effect are integrated into an identical optimization problem with the same universal structure. Besides, the correspondence between the Warburg effect and Giffen behaviour implies that oxidative phosphorylation is counter-intuitively stimulated when its efficiency is decreased by metabolic perturbations such as drug administration or mitochondrial dysfunction; the concept of Giffen behaviour bridges the Warburg effect and the reverse Warburg effect. This highlights that the application of microeconomics to metabolism can offer new predictions and paradigms for both biology and economics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 5176-5183
Author(s):  
Ichraf Slimani ◽  
Serap Şahin-Bölükbaşı ◽  
Mustafa Ulu ◽  
Enes Evren ◽  
Nevin Gürbüz ◽  
...  

A series of benzimidazolium salts and their [RhCl(NHC)(COD)] complexes were synthesized. All compounds were screened for in vitro cytotoxic activities against a panel of human cancer cells (HT-29 colon, Ishikawa endometrial, U-87 glioblastoma) using the MTT assay for 48 h incubation time.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (31) ◽  
pp. 6477-6487 ◽  
Author(s):  
María-Carmen López de las Hazas ◽  
Juana I. Mosele ◽  
Alba Macià ◽  
Iziar A. Ludwig ◽  
María-José Motilva

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 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Xu ◽  
Heshui Wu ◽  
Jiongxin Xiong ◽  
Tao Peng

Gemcitabine (GEM) resistance remains a challenging clinical issue to overcome in chemotherapy against pancreatic cancer. We previously demonstrated that miR-210 derived from pancreatic cancer stem cells enhanced the GEM-resistant properties of pancreatic cancer cells, thus identifying miR-210 as an oncogenic miRNA. Herein, we report the existence of an upstream effector that acts as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to miR-210. Bioinformatic screening was performed to identify lncRNAs with a binding relationship to miR-210. Overexpression and interference vectors were constructed to demonstrate the effect of ceRNA activity in pancreatic cell behavior, both in vitro and in vivo. DLEU2L (deleted in lymphocytic leukemia 2-like), which is expressed at low levels in pancreatic cancer tissues, was shown to exhibit a binding relationship with miR-210-3p. Overexpression of DLEU2L and silencing of miR-210-3p suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells while promoting apoptosis. These effects occurred via the inhibition of the Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis) and AKT/mTOR signaling. In addition, we showed that BRCA2 is a target gene of miR-210-3p, and the downregulation of miR-210-3p by DLEU2L effectively induced an upregulation of BRCA2 via the ceRNA mechanism. In vivo, DLEU2L overexpression and miR-210-3p interference suppressed pancreatic tumor progression, consistent with the results of in vitro studies. The findings of our study establish DLEU2L as a ceRNA to miR-210-3p and reveal the critical role of the DLEU2L/miR-210-3p crosstalk in targeting GEM resistance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1661
Author(s):  
Anamarija Mojzeš ◽  
Marko Tomljanović ◽  
Lidija Milković ◽  
Renata Novak Kujundžić ◽  
Ana Čipak Gašparović ◽  
...  

In order to support uncontrolled proliferation, cancer cells need to adapt to increased energetic and biosynthetic requirements. One such adjustment is aerobic glycolysis or the Warburg effect. It is characterized by increased glucose uptake and lactate production. Curcumin, a natural compound, has been shown to interact with multiple molecules and signaling pathways in cancer cells, including those relevant for cell metabolism. The effect of curcumin and its solvent, ethanol, was explored on four different cancer cell lines, in which the Warburg effect varied. Vital cellular parameters (proliferation, viability) were measured along with the glucose consumption and lactate production. The transcripts of pyruvate kinase 1 and 2 (PKM1, PKM2), serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2) and phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) were quantified with RT-qPCR. The amount and intracellular localization of PKM1, PKM2 and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) proteins were analyzed by Western blot. The response to ethanol and curcumin seemed to be cell-type specific, with respect to all parameters analyzed. High sensitivity to curcumin was present in the cell lines originating from head and neck squamous cell carcinomas: FaDu, Detroit 562 and, especially, Cal27. Very low sensitivity was observed in the colon adenocarcinoma-originating HT-29 cell line, which retained, after exposure to curcumin, a higher levels of lactate production despite decreased glucose consumption. The effects of ethanol were significant.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 642
Author(s):  
Magdalena Milczarek ◽  
Michał Chodyński ◽  
Anita Pietraszek ◽  
Martyna Stachowicz-Suhs ◽  
Kaori Yasuda ◽  
...  

Experimental data indicate that low-calcemic vitamin D derivatives (VDDs) exhibit anticancer properties, both in vitro and in vivo. In our search for a vitamin D analog as potential anticancer agent, we investigated the influence of chirality in the side chain of the derivatives of 1,25-dihydroxyergocalciferol (1,25D2) on their activities. In this study, we synthesized modified analogs at the side chain and the A-ring, which differed from one another in their absolute configuration at C-24, namely (24S)- and (24R)-1,25-dihydroxy-19-nor-20a-homo-ergocalciferols (PRI-5105 and PRI-5106, respectively), and evaluated their activity. Unexpectedly, despite introducing double-point modifications, both analogs served as very good substrates for the vitamin D-hydroxylating enzyme. Irrespective of their absolute C-24 configuration, PRI-5105 and PRI-5106 showed relatively low resistance to CYP24A1-dependent metabolic deactivation. Additionally, both VDDs revealed a similar antiproliferative activity against HT-29 colorectal cancer cells which was higher than that of 1,25D3, the major biologically active metabolite of vitamin D. Furthermore, PRI-5105 and PRI-5106 significantly enhanced the cell growth-inhibitory activity of 5-fluorouracil on HT-29 cell line. In conclusion, although the two derivatives showed a relatively high anticancer potential, they exhibited undesired high metabolic conversion.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Bartmann ◽  
David Schumacher ◽  
Saskia von Stillfried ◽  
Marieke Sternkopf ◽  
Setareh Alampour-Rajabi ◽  
...  

The retention and cellular internalization of drug delivery systems and theranostics for cancer therapy can be improved by targeting molecules. Since an increased uptake of riboflavin was reported for various cancers, riboflavin and its derivatives may be promising binding moieties to trigger internalization via the riboflavin transporters (RFVT) 1, 2, and 3. Riboflavin is a vitamin with pivotal role in energy metabolism and indispensable for cellular growth. In previous preclinical studies on mice, we showed the target-specific accumulation of riboflavin-functionalized nanocarriers in cancer cells. Although the uptake mechanism of riboflavin has been studied for over a decade, little is known about the riboflavin transporters and their expression on cancer cells, tumor stroma, and healthy tissues. Furthermore, evidence is lacking concerning the representativeness of the preclinical findings to the situation in humans. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern of riboflavin transporters in human squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), melanoma and luminal A breast cancer samples, as well as in healthy skin, breast, aorta, and kidney tissues. Low constitutive expression levels of RFVT1–3 were found on all healthy tissues, while RFVT2 and 3 were significantly overexpressed in melanoma, RFVT1 and 3 in luminal A breast cancer and RFVT1–3 in SCC. Correspondingly, the SCC cell line A431 was highly positive for all RFVTs, thus qualifying as suitable in vitro model. In contrast, activated endothelial cells (HUVEC) only presented with a strong expression of RFVT2, and HK2 kidney cells only with a low constitutive expression of RFVT1–3. Functional in vitro studies on A431 and HK2 cells using confocal microscopy showed that riboflavin uptake is mostly ATP dependent and primarily driven by endocytosis. Furthermore, riboflavin is partially trafficked to the mitochondria. Riboflavin uptake and trafficking was significantly higher in A431 than in healthy kidney cells. Thus, this manuscript supports the hypothesis that addressing the riboflavin internalization pathway may be highly valuable for tumor targeted drug delivery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neda Dadgar ◽  
Alan M. Gonzalez-Suarez ◽  
Pouria Fattahi ◽  
Xiaonan Hou ◽  
John S. Weroha ◽  
...  

Abstract There is increasing interest in utilizing in vitro cultures as patient avatars to develop personalized treatment for cancer. Typical cultures utilize Matrigel-coated plates and media to promote the proliferation of cancer cells as spheroids or tumor explants. However, standard culture conditions operate in large volumes and require a high concentration of cancer cells to initiate this process. Other limitations include variability in the ability to successfully establish a stable line and inconsistency in the dimensions of these microcancers for in vivo drug response measurements. This paper explored the utility of microfluidics in the cultivation of cancer cell spheroids. Six patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumors of high-grade serous ovarian cancer were used as the source material to demonstrate that viability and epithelial marker expression in the microfluidic cultures was superior to that of Matrigel or large volume 3D cultures. To further demonstrate the potential for miniaturization and multiplexing, we fabricated multichamber microfluidic devices with integrated microvalves to enable serial seeding of several chambers followed by parallel testing of several drug concentrations. These valve-enabled microfluidic devices permitted the formation of spheroids and testing of seven drug concentrations with as few as 100,000 cancer cells per device. Overall, we demonstrate the feasibility of maintaining difficul-to-culture primary cancer cells and testing drugs in a microfluidic device. This microfluidic platform may be ideal for drug testing and personalized therapy when tumor material is limited, such as following the acquisition of biopsy specimens obtained by fine-needle aspiration.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Walczak ◽  
Ewa Langner ◽  
Karolina Szalast ◽  
Anna Makuch-Kocka ◽  
Piotr Pożarowski ◽  
...  

8-Hydroxyquinaldic acid, the end-metabolite of tryptophan, is well-known metal chelator; however, its role in humans, especially in cancer promotion and progression, has not been fully revealed. Importantly, 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid is the analog of kynurenic acid with evidenced antiproliferative activity towards various cancer cells. In this study, we revealed that 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid inhibited not only proliferation and mitochondrial activity in colon cancer HT-29 and LS-180 cells, but it also decreased DNA synthesis up to 90.9% for HT-29 cells and 76.1% for LS-180 cells. 8-Hydroxyquinaldic acid induced changes in protein expression of cell cycle regulators (CDK4, CDK6, cyclin D1, cyclin E) and CDKs inhibitors (p21 Waf1/Cip1, p27 Kip1), but the effect was dependent on the tested cell line. Moreover, 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid inhibited migration of colon cancer HT-29 and LS-180 cells and increased the expression of β-catenin and E-cadherin. Importantly, antiproliferative and anti-migratory concentrations of 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid were non-toxic in vitro and in vivo. We reported for the first time antiproliferative and anti-migratory activity of 8-hydroxyquinaldic acid against colon cancer HT-29 and LS-180 cells.


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