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Pascale RM, Calvisi DF, Simile MM, Feo CF, Feo F. The Warburg Effect 97 Years after Its Discovery. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:E2819. [PMID: 33008042 PMCID: PMC7599761 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12102819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 157] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The deregulation of the oxidative metabolism in cancer, as shown by the increased aerobic glycolysis and impaired oxidative phosphorylation (Warburg effect), is coordinated by genetic changes leading to the activation of oncogenes and the loss of oncosuppressor genes. The understanding of the metabolic deregulation of cancer cells is necessary to prevent and cure cancer. In this review, we illustrate and comment the principal metabolic and molecular variations of cancer cells, involved in their anomalous behavior, that include modifications of oxidative metabolism, the activation of oncogenes that promote glycolysis and a decrease of oxygen consumption in cancer cells, the genetic susceptibility to cancer, the molecular correlations involved in the metabolic deregulation in cancer, the defective cancer mitochondria, the relationships between the Warburg effect and tumor therapy, and recent studies that reevaluate the Warburg effect. Taken together, these observations indicate that the Warburg effect is an epiphenomenon of the transformation process essential for the development of malignancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosa Maria Pascale
- Department of Medical, Surgery and Experimental Sciences, Division of Experimental Pathology and Oncology, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy; (D.F.C.); (M.M.S.); (F.F.)
| | - Diego Francesco Calvisi
- Department of Medical, Surgery and Experimental Sciences, Division of Experimental Pathology and Oncology, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy; (D.F.C.); (M.M.S.); (F.F.)
| | - Maria Maddalena Simile
- Department of Medical, Surgery and Experimental Sciences, Division of Experimental Pathology and Oncology, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy; (D.F.C.); (M.M.S.); (F.F.)
| | - Claudio Francesco Feo
- Department of Clinical, Surgery and Experimental Sciences, Division of Surgery, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy;
| | - Francesco Feo
- Department of Medical, Surgery and Experimental Sciences, Division of Experimental Pathology and Oncology, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy; (D.F.C.); (M.M.S.); (F.F.)
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Murillo-López J, Zinovjev K, Pereira H, Caniuguir A, Garratt R, Babul J, Recabarren R, Alzate-Morales J, Caballero J, Tuñón I, Cabrera R. Studying the phosphoryl transfer mechanism of the E. coli phosphofructokinase-2: from X-ray structure to quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations. Chem Sci 2019; 10:2882-2892. [PMID: 30996866 PMCID: PMC6429617 DOI: 10.1039/c9sc00094a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2019] [Accepted: 01/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Phosphofructokinases catalyze the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate and they are highly regulated.
Phosphofructokinases (Pfks) catalyze the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate (F6P) and they are regulated in a wide variety of organisms. Although numerous aspects of the kinetics and regulation have been characterized for Pfks, the knowledge about the mechanism of the phosphoryl transfer reaction and the transition state lags behind. In this work, we describe the X-ray crystal structure of the homodimeric Pfk-2 from E. coli, which contains products in one site and reactants in the other, as well as an additional ATP molecule in the inhibitory allosteric site adjacent to the reactants. This complex was previously predicted when studying the kinetic mechanism of ATP inhibition. After removing the allosteric ATP, molecular dynamic (MD) simulations revealed conformational changes related to domain packing, as well as stable interactions of Lys27 and Asp256 with donor (ATP) and acceptor (fructose-6-) groups, and of Asp166 with Mg2+. The phosphoryl transfer reaction mechanism catalyzed by Pfk-2 was investigated through Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) simulations using a combination of the string method and a path-collective variable for the exploration of its free energy surface. The calculated activation free energies showed that a dissociative mechanism, occurring with a metaphosphate intermediate formation followed by a proton transfer to Asp256, is more favorable than an associative one. The structural analysis reveals the role of Asp256 acting as a catalytic base and Lys27 stabilizing the transition state of the dissociative mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Murillo-López
- Centro de Bioinformática y Simulación Molecular (CBSM) , Facultad de Ingeniería , Universidad de Talca , 1 Poniente 1141 , Talca , Chile .
| | - Kirill Zinovjev
- Departament de Química Física , Universitat de València , 46100 Burjassot , Spain .
| | - Humberto Pereira
- Instituto de Física de São Carlos , Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo , Brazil
| | - Andres Caniuguir
- Departamento de Biología , Facultad de Ciencias , Universidad de Chile , Santiago , Chile .
| | - Richard Garratt
- Instituto de Física de São Carlos , Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo , Brazil
| | - Jorge Babul
- Departamento de Biología , Facultad de Ciencias , Universidad de Chile , Santiago , Chile .
| | - Rodrigo Recabarren
- Centro de Bioinformática y Simulación Molecular (CBSM) , Facultad de Ingeniería , Universidad de Talca , 1 Poniente 1141 , Talca , Chile .
| | - Jans Alzate-Morales
- Centro de Bioinformática y Simulación Molecular (CBSM) , Facultad de Ingeniería , Universidad de Talca , 1 Poniente 1141 , Talca , Chile .
| | - Julio Caballero
- Centro de Bioinformática y Simulación Molecular (CBSM) , Facultad de Ingeniería , Universidad de Talca , 1 Poniente 1141 , Talca , Chile .
| | - Iñaki Tuñón
- Departament de Química Física , Universitat de València , 46100 Burjassot , Spain .
| | - Ricardo Cabrera
- Departamento de Biología , Facultad de Ciencias , Universidad de Chile , Santiago , Chile .
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