Journal
CANCERS
Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/cancers11030274
Keywords
Lactate; metastasis; cell motility; microtubule; E2F pathway; kinesin family genes
Categories
Funding
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) - Ministry of Science and ICT [NRF-2013M3A9B5076422, NRF-2016M3A9E4947789, NRF-2017M3A9F9030565, NRF-2016R1A5A2012284]
- KRIBB Research Initiative Program
- National Research Foundation of Korea [2013M3A9B5076422, 2016M3A9E4947789] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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Excess lactate production due to enhanced aerobic glycolysis is characteristic of malignant cancers, which is also intimately associated with poor cancer prognoses. Although tumor-associated lactate contributes to all major steps in carcinogenesis, its action mechanism remains obscure. To understand the molecular mechanism of the lactate-induced tumor metastatic process, we identified an array of lactate-responsive genes via transcriptome analysis of a metformin-induced hyper-glycolytic liver cancer model. Gene set enrichment analysis suggested E2F-RB pathway as the dominant regulator of the lactate-induced gene expression. We experimentally verified that lactate indeed activates E2F-mediated transcription by promoting E2F1 protein accumulation through a posttranscriptional mechanism. Literature-based analysis of target pathways potentially modulated by 136 top-ranked genes indicated that genes functioning in cell-cell or cell-matrix communications dominate the lactate-induced gene expression. Especially, those regulating microtubule functions, including a group of kinesin family members, were significantly up-regulated in lactate- and E2F1-dependent manners. Depletion of E2F1 or kinesins (KIF2C, KIF18B, KIF20A) led to deformation of microtubule structures, impairing cell motility as much as the deficit in lactate production. These results indicate that E2F pathway activation by tumor-associated lactate and subsequent transcriptional activation of microtubule functions play crucial roles in tumor metastasis, providing mechanistic clues to cell motility-directed anti-cancer strategies.
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