Excess glucose induces hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in pancreatic cancer cells and stimulates glucose metabolism and cell migration

Pancreatic cancer patients frequently show hyperglycemia, but it is uncertain whether hyperglycemia stimulates pancreatic cancer cells. We have investigated whether excess glucose induces hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and stimulates glucose metabolism and cell migration in pancreatic cancer cells. We studied wild-type (wt) MiaPaCa2 pancreatic cancer cells and a MiaPaCa2 subline (namely si-MiaPaCa2) that had HIF-1 alpha-specific small interfering RNA. Wt-MiaPaCa2 cells are known to be HIF-1 alpha-positive in hypoxia and HIF-1 alpha-negative in normoxia, whereas si-MiaPaCa2 cells are devoid of HIF-1 alpha in both normoxia and hypoxia. We incubated these cells with different amounts of glucose and determined HIF-1 alpha mRNA and protein by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. We determined glucose consumption, lactate production and intracellular hexokinase-II and ATP to assess glucose metabolisms and determined pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-1, reactive oxygen species and fumarate to assess mitochondrial activities. Further, we studied cell migration using a Boyden chamber. Excess glucose (16.7-22.2 mM) increased HIF-1 alpha in hypoxic wt-MiaPaCa2 cells. HIF-1 alpha expression increased ATP contents and inhibited mitochondrial activities. Extracellular glucose and hypoxia stimulated glucose metabolisms independent of HIF-1 alpha. Excess glucose stimulated the migration of wt- and si-MiaPaCa2 cells in both normoxia and hypoxia. Thus, glucose stimulated cell migration independent of HIF-1 alpha. Nevertheless, hypoxic wt-MiaPaCa2 cells showed greater migrating ability than their si-MiaPaCa2 counterparts. We conclude that (1) excess glucose increases HIF-1 alpha and ATP in hypoxic wt-MiaPaCa2 cells, (2) extracellular glucose and hypoxia regulate glucose metabolisms independent of HIF-1 alpha and (3) glucose stimulates cell migration by mechanisms that are both dependent on HIF-1 alpha and independent of it.