Propionate metabolism and cancer

摘要(最多30行) 绝大多数癌症死亡是由于转移造成的。肿瘤学中一个尚未得到满足的主要需求是如何预测 并防止转移进展。为了满足这一需求，我们必须推进我们对如何 肿瘤细胞获得转移能力。上皮向间充质转化(EMT)是一种正常的生理学现象 在伤口愈合和发育过程中，极化的上皮细胞经历生化，代谢， 和表观遗传学变化，并转化为间充质表型，其特征是增强的迁移和 侵入性能力。癌症选择这种重新编程来获得转移能力。了解肿瘤是如何 细胞接受EMT是解开癌症如何转移的关键。从历史上看，研究主要是 专注于引发EMT和转移的基因突变或基因表达变化。但最近的研究表明 提示代谢物等非遗传因素可以促进癌症进展，这表明尚未被探索 癌症生物学领域。为了更深入地了解EMT并捕获必要的顺序更改 为了让癌症转移，我们多次进行了蛋白质组学、代谢组学和转录组学研究。 点数作为细胞进行EMT。我们的多方面方法揭示了丰富的新见解。我们发现了丙酸 EMT过程中代谢紊乱。事实上，我们观察到丙酰辅酶A和甲基丙二酸的增加 酸(MMA)，丙酸代谢的副产物，在EMT早期。要测试功能 MMA升高的影响，我们用MMA处理肺癌和乳腺癌细胞。令人惊讶的是，我们发现MMA 触发了EMT，增强了迁移和入侵能力。在我们发现之前，人们对此知之甚少 罕见的先天性心脏病患者的丙酸代谢和除丙酸代谢外的MMA代谢异常 新陈代谢统称为“甲基丙二酸血症”。最近的一些研究也表明， MMA的血清浓度随着年龄的增长而增加，并与年龄相关的全因死亡率有关。据我们所知，我们的发现 是第一个证明丙酸代谢在EMT和癌细胞进展中起作用的人。这 这让我们研究了在EMT过程中丙酸代谢是如何改变的。我们的长期目标是定义这一点 通路是由多个转移诱导物调控的，并且在通路中的多个点上，以及如何定义 癌细胞产生的MMA也会影响肿瘤的微环境。我们建议的研究将 解决更好地了解转移的分子基础的迫切需要。我们的期望是 拟议工作的成功完成将通过改变范式和 强调推动癌症进展的关键非遗传因素。因此，我们的工作将确定新的 可用于预防和抑制转移的生物标志物和治疗靶点。

SUMMARY (30 lines max) The vast majority of cancer mortality is due to metastases. A major unmet need in oncology is how to predict and prevent metastatic progression. To address this need, it is imperative we advance our understanding of how tumor cells acquire metastatic capability. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a normal physiologic process in wound healing and development by which polarized epithelial cells undergo biochemical, metabolic, and epigenetic changes and convert to a mesenchymal phenotype, characterized by enhanced migratory and invasive capacity. Cancers co-opt this reprogramming to acquire metastatic ability. Understanding how tumor cells undergo EMT is critical to unraveling how cancer becomes metastatic. Historically, studies have primarily focused on genetic mutations or gene expression changes that trigger EMT and metastasis. But recent work has suggested that non-genetic factors such as metabolites can promote cancer progression, suggesting unexplored areas of cancer biology. To gain a deeper understanding of EMT and capture the sequential changes necessary for cancer to become metastatic, we performed proteomics, metabolomics and transcriptomics at multiple time points as cells underwent EMT. Our multifaceted approach revealed rich new insights. We found that propionate metabolism was dysregulated during EMT. Indeed, we observed increased propionyl-CoA and methylmalonic acid (MMA), a dicarboxylic acid by-product of propionate metabolism, during early EMT. To test the functional effect of elevated MMA, we treated lung and breast cancer cells with MMA. Strikingly, we found that MMA triggered EMT and enhanced migratory and invasive capacity. Prior to our discovery, little was known about propionate metabolism and MMA other than propionate metabolism is dysregulated in rare inborn errors of metabolism collectively referred to as “methylmalonic acidemias.” Some recent studies have also shown that MMA increases in serum with age and is linked to age-related, all-cause mortality. To our knowledge, our findings are the first to demonstrate that propionate metabolism plays a role in EMT and cancer cell progression. This led us to study how propionate metabolism is altered during EMT. Our long-term goals are to define how this pathway is regulated by multiple inducers of metastasis and at multiple points in the pathway, and to define how MMA produced by cancer cells can also influence the tumor microenvironment. Our proposed studies will address a critical need for a greater understanding of the molecular basis of metastasis. Our expectations are that successful completion of the proposed work will impact cancer biology by shifting the paradigm and highlighting critical non-genetic factors that drive cancer progression. Consequently, our work will identify new biomarkers and therapeutic targets that can be exploited to prevent and inhibit metastases.