The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Metabolism
Volume 14 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1411983
The novel family of Warbicin ® compounds inhibits glucose uptake both in yeast and human cells and restrains cancer cell proliferation
Provisionally accepted- 1 VIB Center for Microbiology, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium
- 2 VIB KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, Leuven, Belgium
- 3 Leuven Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Brussels, Belgium
- 4 VIB Screening Core, Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium
- 5 Antonio Perrino Hospital, Brindisi, Italy
Many cancer cells share with yeast a preference for fermentation over respiration, which is associated with overactive glucose uptake and breakdown, a phenomenon called the Warburg effect in cancer cells. The yeast tps1∆ mutant shows even more pronounced hyperactive glucose uptake and phosphorylation causing glycolysis to stall at GAPDH, initiation of apoptosis through overactivation of Ras and absence of growth on glucose. The goal of the present work was to use the yeast tps1∆ strain to screen for novel compounds that would preferentially inhibit overactive glucose influx into glycolysis, while maintaining basal glucose catabolism. This is based on the assumption that the overactive glucose catabolism of the tps1∆ strain might have a similar molecular cause as the Warburg effect in cancer cells. We have isolated Warbicin ® A as a compound restoring growth on glucose of the yeast tps1∆ mutant, showed that it inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells and isolated structural analogs by screening directly for cancer cell inhibition. The Warbicin ® compounds are the first drugs that inhibit glucose uptake by both yeast Hxt and mammalian GLUT carriers. Specific concentrations did not evoke any major toxicity in mice but increase the amount of adipose tissue likely due to reduced systemic glucose uptake. Surprisingly, Warbicin ® A inhibition of yeast sugar uptake depends on sugar phosphorylation, suggesting transport-associated phosphorylation as a target. In vivo and in vitro evidence confirms physical interaction between yeast Hxt7 and hexokinase. We suggest that reversible transport-associated phosphorylation by hexokinase controls the rate of glucose uptake through hydrolysis of the inhibitory ATP molecule in the cytosolic domain of glucose carriers and that in yeast tps1∆ cells and cancer cells reversibility is compromised, causing constitutively hyperactive glucose uptake and phosphorylation. Based on their chemical structure and properties, we suggest that Warbicin ® compounds replace the inhibitory ATP molecule in the cytosolic domain of the glucose carriers, preventing hexokinase to cause hyperactive glucose uptake and catabolism.
Keywords: glucose uptake, yeast, Cancer cells, Warburg effect, transport-associated phosphorylation, synthetic inhibitors, Warbicin ®
Received: 03 Apr 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Vanthienen, Fernández-García, Baietti, Claeys, Van Leemputte, Nguyen, Goossens, Deparis, Broekaert, Vlayen, Audenaert, Delforge, D'Amuri, Van Zeebroeck, Leucci, Fendt and Thevelein. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Johan M. Thevelein, VIB Center for Microbiology, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.