Abstract
Metastasis is a major obstacle to the efficient and successful treatment of cancer. Initiation of metastasis requires epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) that is regulated by several transcription factors, including Snail and ZEB1/2. EMT is closely linked to the acquisition of cancer stem cell (CSC) properties and chemoresistance, which contribute to tumor malignancy. Tumor suppressor p53 inhibits EMT and metastasis by negatively regulating several EMT-inducing transcription factors and regulatory molecules; thus, its inhibition is crucial in EMT, invasion, metastasis, and stemness. Metabolic alterations are another hallmark of cancer. Most cancer cells are more dependent on glycolysis than on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation for their energy production, even in the presence of oxygen. Cancer cells enhance other oncogenic metabolic pathways, such as glutamine metabolism, pentose phosphate pathway, and the synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol. Metabolic reprogramming in cancer is regulated by the activation of oncogenes or loss of tumor suppressors that contribute to tumor progression. Oncogenic metabolism has been recently linked closely with the induction of EMT or CSC phenotypes by the induction of several metabolic enzyme genes. In addition, several transcription factors and molecules involved in EMT or CSCs, including Snail, Dlx-2, HIF-1α, STAT3, TGF-β, Wnt, and Akt, regulate oncogenic metabolism. Moreover, p53 induces metabolic change by directly regulating several metabolic enzymes. The collective data indicate the importance of oncogenic metabolism in the regulation of EMT, cell invasion and metastasis, and adoption of the CSC phenotype, which all contribute to malignant transformation and tumor development. In this review, we highlight the oncogenic metabolism as a key regulator of EMT and CSC, which is related with tumor progression involving metastasis and chemoresistance. Targeting oncometabolism might be a promising strategy for the development of effective anticancer therapy.
Highlights
Cancer cells can acquire multiple biological capabilities to overcome their multistage resistance during carcinogenesis
P53 prevents epithelialmesenchymal transition (EMT) by inducing the anti-EMT long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), including tumor suppressor candidate 7, growth arrest-specific 5, and lincRNAp21 [103,104,105]. These results suggest that p53 may contribute to EMT and metastasis by the regulation of miRNA and lncRNA
distal-less homeobox 2 (Dlx-2), TGF-β, Wnt, and Snail-induced EMT and the glycolytic switch are prevented through the inhibition of glutamine metabolism by short hairpin Glutaminase 1 (GLS1), Gln deprivation, and Gln metabolism inhibitors. These results indicate that the Dlx-2/GLS1/glutamine metabolic axis is a crucial regulator of TGF-β/Wntinduced, Snail-dependent EMT, metastasis, and the glycolytic switch [22, 40]
Summary
Cancer cells can acquire multiple biological capabilities to overcome their multistage resistance during carcinogenesis. Expression of transcription factors involving EMT (such as Snail) and stemness (such as Sox and Nanog) can be decreased by blocking the function of the Wnt/βcatenin and/or Notch [141] This indicates that EMTinducing signaling pathways play important roles in the acquisition of CSC phenotypes. SASP factors positively modulate tumor development in senescent tumor cells, as well as in high-grade premalignant and malignant cells by regulating all steps of tumor progression, such as facilitating tumor proliferation, inducing EMT, invasion, and metastasis, and indirectly promoting angiogenesis [171, 194,195,196,197,198, 201]. The SASP of senescent cells plays a crucial role in cancer invasion and metastasis [190]
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