Citation
- Authors: Lee, S. Y., Jeon, H. M., Ju, M. K., Kim, C. H., Yoon, G., Han, S. I., Park, H. G., Kang, H. S.
- Year: 2012
- Journal: Cancer Res 72 3607-17
- Applications: in vitro / DNA / jetPEI
- Cell type: MCF7
Description: Human breast adenocarcinoma cells
Known as: MCF-7, MCF 7
Abstract
Wnt signaling plays a critical role in embryonic development, and its deregulation is closely linked to the occurrence of a number of malignant tumors, including breast and colon cancer. The pathway also induces Snail-dependent epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is responsible for tumor invasion and metastasis. In this study, we show that Wnt suppresses mitochondrial respiration and cytochrome C oxidase (COX) activity by inhibiting the expression of 3 COX subunits, namely, COXVIc, COXVIIa, and COXVIIc. We found that Wnt induced a glycolytic switch via increased glucose consumption and lactate production, with induction of pyruvate carboxylase (PC), a key enzyme of anaplerosis. In addition, Wnt-induced mitochondrial repression and glycolytic switching occurred through the canonical beta-catenin/T-cell factor 4/Snail pathway. Short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of E-cadherin, a regulator of EMT, repressed mitochondrial respiration and induced a glycolytic switch via Snail activation, indicating that EMT may contribute to Wnt/Snail regulation of mitochondrial respiration and glucose metabolism. Together, our findings provide a new function for Wnt/Snail signaling in the regulation of mitochondrial respiration (via COX gene expression) and glucose metabolism (via PC gene expression) in tumor growth and progression.