Development of a rational strategy for integration of lactate dehydrogenase A suppression into therapeutic algorithms for head and neck cancer

LDHB silencing enhances the effects of radiotherapy by impairing nucleotide metabolism and promoting persistent DNA damage

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with radiotherapy as a key treatment modality for inoperable cases. Lactate, once considered a by-product of anaerobic cellular metabolism, is now considered critical for cancer progression. Lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB) converts lactate to pyruvate and supports mitochondrial metabolism. In this study, a re-analysis of our previous transcriptomic data revealed that LDHB silencing in the NSCLC cell lines A549 and H358 dysregulated 1789 genes, including gene sets associated with cell cycle and DNA repair pathways. LDHB silencing increased H2AX phosphorylation, a surrogate marker of DNA damage, and induced cell cycle arrest at the G1/S or G2/M checkpoint depending on the p53 status. Long-term LDHB silencing sensitized A549 cells to radiotherapy, resulting in increased DNA damage and genomic instability as evidenced by increased H2AX phosphorylation levels and micronuclei accumulation, respectively. The combination of LDHB silencing and radiotherapy increased protein levels of the senescence marker p21, accompanied by increased phosphorylation of Chk2, suggesting persistent DNA damage. Metabolomics analysis revealed that LDHB silencing decreased nucleotide metabolism, particularly purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis, in tumor xenografts. Nucleotide supplementation partially attenuated DNA damage caused by combined LDHB silencing and radiotherapy. These findings suggest that LDHB supports metabolic homeostasis and DNA damage repair in NSCLC, while its silencing enhances the effects of radiotherapy by impairing nucleotide metabolism and promoting persistent DNA damage.

Emerging role of metabolic reprogramming in the immune microenvironment and immunotherapy of thyroid cancer

The metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells is a hallmark of many malignancies. To meet the energy acquisition needs of tumor cells for rapid proliferation, tumor cells reprogram their nutrient metabolism, which is caused by the abnormal expression of transcription factors and signaling molecules related to energy metabolic pathways as well as the upregulation and downregulation of abnormal metabolic enzymes, receptors, and mediators. Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most common endocrine tumor, and immunotherapy has become the mainstream choice for clinical benefit after the failure of surgical, endocrine, and radioiodine therapies. TC change the tumor microenvironment (TME) through nutrient competition and metabolites, causing metabolic reprogramming of immune cells, profoundly changing immune cell function, and promoting immune evasion of tumor cells. A deeper understanding of how metabolic reprogramming alters the TME and controls immune cell fate and function will help improve the effectiveness of TC immunotherapy and patient outcomes. This paper aims to elucidate the metabolic communication that occurs between immune cells around TC and discusses how metabolic reprogramming in TC affects the immune microenvironment and the effectiveness of anti-cancer immunotherapy. Finally, targeting key metabolic checkpoints during metabolic reprogramming, combined with immunotherapy, is a promising strategy.

First-in-Human Hyperpolarized MRI for Tumor Metabolism in HNSCC

This case report describes the use of hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a patient with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) to demonstrate its translational viability.

Metabolic targeting, immunotherapy and radiation in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: Where do we go from here?

In the US, there are ~250,000 new lung cancer diagnoses and ~130,000 deaths per year, and worldwide there are an estimated 1.6 million deaths per year from this deadly disease. Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide, and it accounts for roughly a quarter of all cancer deaths in the US. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents 80-85% of these cases. Due to an enormous tobacco cessation effort, NSCLC rates in the US are decreasing, and the implementation of lung cancer screening guidelines and other programs have resulted in a higher percentage of patients presenting with potentially curable locoregional disease, instead of distant disease. Exciting developments in molecular targeted therapy and immunotherapy have resulted in dramatic improvement in patients' survival, in combination with new surgical, pathological, radiographical, and radiation techniques. Concurrent platinum-based doublet chemoradiation therapy followed by immunotherapy has set the benchmark for survival in these patients. However, despite these advances, ~50% of patients diagnosed with locally advanced NSCLC (LA-NSCLC) survive long-term. In patients with local and/or locoregional disease, chemoradiation is a critical component of curative therapy. However, there remains a significant clinical gap in improving the efficacy of this combined therapy, and the development of non-overlapping treatment approaches to improve treatment outcomes is needed. One potential promising avenue of research is targeting cancer metabolism. In this review, we will initially provide a brief general overview of tumor metabolism as it relates to therapeutic targeting. We will then focus on the intersection of metabolism on both oxidative stress and anti-tumor immunity. This will be followed by discussion of both tumor- and patient-specific opportunities for metabolic targeting in NSCLC. We will then conclude with a discussion of additional agents currently in development that may be advantageous to combine with chemo-immuno-radiation in NSCLC.

Reprogramming of Cellular Metabolism and Its Therapeutic Applications in Thyroid Cancer

Metabolism is a series of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms, providing energy required for cellular processes and building blocks for cellular constituents of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Cancer cells frequently reprogram their metabolic behaviors to adapt their rapid proliferation and altered tumor microenvironments. Not only aerobic glycolysis (also termed the Warburg effect) but also altered mitochondrial metabolism, amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism play important roles for cancer growth and aggressiveness. Thus, the mechanistic elucidation of these metabolic changes is invaluable for understanding the pathogenesis of cancers and developing novel metabolism-targeted therapies. In this review article, we first provide an overview of essential metabolic mechanisms, and then summarize the recent findings of metabolic reprogramming and the recent reports of metabolism-targeted therapies for thyroid cancer.

Drug delivery for metabolism targeted cancer immunotherapy

Drug delivery vehicles have made a great impact on cancer immunotherapies in clinics and pre-clinical research. Notably, the science of delivery of cancer vaccines and immunotherapeutics, modulating immune cell functions has inspired development of several successful companies and clinical products. Interestingly, these drug delivery modalities not only modulate the function of immune cells (often quantified at the mRNA and protein levels), but also modulate the metabolism of these cells. Specifically, cancer immunotherapy often leads to activation of different immune cells such as dendritic cells, macrophages and T cells, which is driven by energy metabolism of these cells. Recently, there has been a great excitement about interventions that can directly modulate the energy metabolism of these immune cells and thus affect their function and in turn lead to a robust cancer immune response. Here we review few strategies that have been tested in clinic and pre-clinical research for generating effective metabolism-associated cancer therapies and immunotherapies.

Fluorescence determination of lactate dehydrogenase activity based on silicon quantum dots

Silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) synthesized based on 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (ATPMS) as silicon source were used to detect the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) through changes of fluorescence intensity of SiQDs. In this system, the fluorescence of SiQDs was first quenched by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), and then recovered with the addition of LDH, as NADH was consumed by catalytic reaction of LDH. A linear calibration chart of LDH is obtained in the range of 0.77-385 U/mL. The assay displays high selectivity towards LDH detection, and was successfully applied to the analysis of LDH in human serum samples. This assay has great prospects for the diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases, especially melanoma.

Metabolic Reprogramming of Thyroid Cancer Cells and Crosstalk in Their Microenvironment

Metabolism differs significantly between tumor and normal cells. Metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells and metabolic interplay in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are important for tumor formation and progression. Tumor cells show changes in both catabolism and anabolism. Altered aerobic glycolysis, known as the Warburg effect, is a well-recognized characteristic of tumor cell energy metabolism. Compared with normal cells, tumor cells consume more glucose and glutamine. The enhanced anabolism in tumor cells includes de novo lipid synthesis as well as protein and nucleic acid synthesis. Although these forms of energy supply are uneconomical, they are required for the functioning of cancer cells, including those in thyroid cancer (TC). Increasing attention has recently focused on alterations of the TME. Understanding the metabolic changes governing the intricate relationship between TC cells and the TME may provide novel ideas for the treatment of TC.