Commonalities in Metabolic Reprogramming between Tobacco Use and Oral Cancer

Connecting the dots: investigating the link between environmental, genetic, and epigenetic influences in metabolomic alterations in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for around 90% of all oral cancers and is the eighth most common cancer worldwide. Despite progress in managing OSCC, the overall prognosis remains poor, with a survival rate of around 50-60%, largely due to tumor size and recurrence. The challenges of late-stage diagnosis and limitations in current methods emphasize the urgent need for less invasive techniques to enable early detection and treatment, crucial for improving outcomes in this aggressive form of oral cancer. Research is currently aimed at unraveling tumor-specific metabolite profiles to identify candidate biomarkers as well as discover underlying pathways involved in the onset and progression of cancer that could be used as new targets for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Metabolomics is an advanced technological approach to identify metabolites in different sample types (biological fluids and tissues). Since OSCC promotes metabolic reprogramming influenced by a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, and viral infections, the identification of distinct metabolites through screening may aid in the diagnosis of this condition. Moreover, studies have shown the use of metabolites during the catalysis of epigenetic modification, indicating a link between epigenetics and metabolism. In this review, we will focus on the link between environmental, genetic, and epigenetic influences in metabolomic alterations in OSCC. In addition, we will discuss therapeutic targets of tumor metabolism, which may prevent oral tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance.

Levistilide A Exerts a Neuroprotective Effect by Suppressing Glucose Metabolism Reprogramming and Preventing Microglia Polarization Shift: Implications for Parkinson's Disease

The microglia, displaying diverse phenotypes, play a significant regulatory role in the development, progression, and prognosis of Parkinson's disease. Research has established that glycolytic reprogramming serves as a critical regulator of inflammation initiation in pro-inflammatory macrophages. Furthermore, the modulation of glycolytic reprogramming has the potential to reverse the polarized state of these macrophages. Previous studies have shown that Levistilide A (LA), a phthalide component derived from Angelica sinensis, possesses a range of pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties. In our study, we have examined the impact of LA on inflammatory cytokines and glucose metabolism in microglia induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we explored the effects of LA on the AMPK/mTOR pathway and assessed its neuroprotective potential both in vitro and in vivo. The findings revealed that LA notably diminished the expression of M1 pro-inflammatory factors induced by LPS in microglia, while leaving M2 anti-inflammatory factor expression unaltered. Additionally, it reduced ROS production and suppressed IκB-α phosphorylation levels as well as NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation. Notably, LA exhibited the ability to reverse microglial glucose metabolism reprogramming and modulate the phosphorylation levels of AMPK/mTOR. In vivo experiments further corroborated these findings, demonstrating that LA mitigated the death of TH-positive dopaminergic neurons and reduced microglia activation in the ventral SNpc brain region of the midbrain and the striatum. In summary, LA exhibited neuroprotective benefits by modulating the polarization state of microglia and altering glucose metabolism, highlighting its therapeutic potential.

Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Altered Metabolic Pathways and Response to Doxorubicin in Drug-Resistant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

This study aimed to investigate metabolic changes following the acquisition of resistance to doxorubicin in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line MDA-MB-231. Two drug-resistant cell lines, DOX-RES-50 and DOX-RES-100, were generated by treating MDA-MB-231 cells with doxorubicin for 24 h and allowing them to recover for six weeks. Both drug-resistant cell lines demonstrated an increase in doxorubicin IC₅₀ values, indicating acquired drug resistance. Metabolomics analysis showed clear separation between the parental MDA-MB-231 cell line and the drug-resistant cell lines. Pathway analysis revealed that arginine and proline metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and beta-alanine metabolism were significantly perturbed in the drug-resistant cell lines compared to the parental cell line. After matching signals to an in-house library of reference standards, significant decreases in short- and medium-chain acylcarnitines and significant increases in long-chain acylcarnitines, 5-oxoproline, and 7-ketodeoxycholic acid were observed in the resistant cell lines as compared to the parental MDA-MB-231 cell line. In addition to baseline metabolic differences, we also investigated differences in metabolic responses in resistant cell lines upon a second exposure at multiple concentrations. Results indicate that whereas the parental MDA-MB-231 cell line had many metabolites that responded to doxorubicin in a dose-dependent manner, the two resistant cell lines lost a dose-dependent response for the majority of these metabolites. The study's findings provide insight into how metabolism is altered during the acquisition of resistance in TNBC cells and how the metabolic response to doxorubicin changes upon repeated treatment. This information can potentially identify novel targets to prevent or reverse multi-drug resistance in TNBC, and also demonstrate the usefulness of metabolomics technology in identifying new mechanisms of drug resistance in cancer and potential drug targets.

Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Novel Targets of Chemosensitizing Polyphenols and Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer with typically poorer outcomes due to its aggressive clinical behavior and lack of targeted treatment options. Currently, treatment is limited to the administration of high-dose chemotherapeutics, which results in significant toxicities and drug resistance. As such, there is a need to de-escalate chemotherapeutic doses in TNBC while also retaining/improving treatment efficacy. Dietary polyphenols and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been demonstrated to have unique properties in experimental models of TNBC, improving the efficacy of doxorubicin and reversing multi-drug resistance. However, the pleiotropic nature of these compounds has caused their mechanisms to remain elusive, preventing the development of more potent mimetics to take advantage of their properties. Using untargeted metabolomics, we identify a diverse set of metabolites/metabolic pathways that are targeted by these compounds following treatment in MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these chemosensitizers do not all target the same metabolic processes, but rather organize into distinct clusters based on similarities among metabolic targets. Common themes in metabolic targets included amino acid metabolism (particularly one-carbon and glutamine metabolism) and alterations in fatty acid oxidation. Moreover, doxorubicin treatment alone generally targeted different metabolites/pathways than chemosensitizers. This information provides novel insights into chemosensitization mechanisms in TNBC.

Exploratory Metabolomics Underscores the Folate Enzyme ALDH1L1 as a Regulator of Glycine and Methylation Reactions

Folate (vitamin B9) is involved in one-carbon transfer reactions and plays a significant role in nucleic acid synthesis and control of cellular proliferation, among other key cellular processes. It is now recognized that the role of folates in different stages of carcinogenesis is complex, and more research is needed to understand how folate reactions become dysregulated in cancers and the metabolic consequences that occur as a result. ALDH1L1 (cytosolic 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase), an enzyme of folate metabolism expressed in many tissues, is ubiquitously downregulated in cancers and is not expressed in cancer cell lines. The RT4 cell line (derived from papillary bladder cancer) which expresses high levels of ALDH1L1 represents an exception, providing an opportunity to explore the metabolic consequences of the loss of this enzyme. We have downregulated this protein in RT4 cells (shRNA driven knockdown or CRISPR driven knockout) and compared metabolomes of ALDH1L1-expressing and -deficient cells to determine if metabolic changes linked to the loss of this enzyme might provide proliferative and/or survival advantages for cancer cells. In this study, cell extracts were analyzed using Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HR-MS). A total of 13,339 signals were identified or annotated using an in-house library and public databases. Supervised and unsupervised multivariate analysis revealed metabolic differences between RT4 cells and ALDH1L1-deficient clones. Glycine (8-fold decrease) and metabolites derived from S-adenosylmethionine utilizing pathways were significantly decreased in the ALDH1L1-deficient clones, compared with RT4 cells. Other changes linked to ALDH1L1 downregulation include decreased levels of amino acids, Krebs cycle intermediates, and ribose-5-phosphate, and increased nicotinic acid. While the ALDH1L1-catalyzed reaction is directly linked to glycine biosynthesis and methyl group flux, its overall effect on cellular metabolism extends beyond immediate metabolic pathways controlled by this enzyme.