Pieces of the Complex Puzzle of Cancer Cell Energy Metabolism: An Overview of Energy Metabolism and Alternatives for Targeted Cancer Therapy

3,5-diCQA suppresses colorectal cancer cell growth through ROS/AMPK/mTOR mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and ferroptosis

3,5-diCQA has been shown to have anti-tumor effect by decreasing cancer cell growth. However, the molecular mechanism by which 3,5-diCQA impacts colorectal cancer (CRC) cells is unknown. This study discovered that 3,5-diCQA had a suppressive effect on CRC cells, mainly in the inhibition of proliferation, migration, and the enhancement of apoptosis in HCT116 and SW480 cells. Additionally, 3,5-diCQA was found to cause cell cycle arrest in CRC cells. Meanwhile, we found that 3,5-diCQA activates the AMPK pathway through the generation of ROS, mediates mitochondrial damage, and reduces mitochondrial aerobic glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation levels. 3,5-diCQA promoted oxidative damage and ferroptosis in CRC cells. Hence, we added ROS inhibitor NAC and found that the NAC reversed the effects of 3,5-diCQA on proliferation, apoptosis, ROS generation, and ferroptosis in CRC cells. Moreover, 3,5-diCQA was also shown to suppress the development of CRC tumor in a tumor-forming model of nude mice. In conclusion, we found that 3,5-diCQA enhances the oxidative damage and ferroptosis while reducing proliferation and migration of CRC cells, depending on mitochondrial dysfunction caused by the ROS/AMPK/mTOR pathway.

Role of a lipid metabolism-related lncRNA signature in risk stratification and immune microenvironment for colon cancer

Background

Energy metabolism disorder, especially lipid metabolism disorder, is an important biological characteristic of colon cancer. This research sought to examine the association between lipid metabolism-related long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and prognoses among colon cancer patients.

Methods

The transcriptome profile and clinical data of patients with colon cancer were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Using consensus clustering, cases were divided into two clusters and Kaplan–Meier analysis was executed to analyze differences in their prognoses. The gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to discover biological processes and signaling pathways. A lipid metabolism-related lncRNA prognostic model (lipid metabolism-LncRM) was created utilizing the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. The tumor microenvironment was evaluated on the basis of the composition of immune and stromal cells.

Results

The patients in Cluster 2 were found to have a better prognosis and higher expression of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) relative to Cluster 1. The results of GSEA showed the enrichment of energy metabolism pathways in Cluster 2. LASSO regression was used to identify the five LncRNAs that were shown to be most substantially linked to patient prognosis. These were NSMCE1-DT, LINC02084, MYOSLID, LINC02428, and MRPS9-AS1. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and survival analysis illustrated that the lipid metabolism-LncRM had a significant prognostic value. Further analysis showed that high- and low-risk groups were significantly different in terms of clinical characteristics and immune cells infiltration.

Conclusions

Lipid metabolism-related lncRNAs could predict the prognoses and tumor microenvironment of colon cancer and might be important biomarkers relevant to immunotherapy.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12920-022-01369-8.

Understanding the Mechanism of Action of Melatonin, Which Induces ROS Production in Cancer Cells

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) constitute a group of highly reactive molecules that have evolved as regulators of important signaling pathways. In this context, tumor cells have an altered redox balance compared to normal cells, which can be targeted as an antitumoral therapy by ROS levels and by decreasing the capacity of the antioxidant system, leading to programmed cell death. Melatonin is of particular importance in the development of innovative cancer treatments due to its oncostatic impact and lack of adverse effects. Despite being widely recognized as a pro-oxidant molecule in tumor cells, the mechanism of action of melatonin remains unclear, which has hindered its use in clinical treatments. The current review aims to describe and clarify the proposed mechanism of action of melatonin inducing ROS production in cancer cells in order to propose future anti-neoplastic clinical applications.

Anti-Warburg Effect of Melatonin: A Proposed Mechanism to Explain its Inhibition of Multiple Diseases

Glucose is an essential nutrient for every cell but its metabolic fate depends on cellular phenotype. Normally, the product of cytosolic glycolysis, pyruvate, is transported into mitochondria and irreversibly converted to acetyl coenzyme A by pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). In some pathological cells, however, pyruvate transport into the mitochondria is blocked due to the inhibition of PDC by pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase. This altered metabolism is referred to as aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect) and is common in solid tumors and in other pathological cells. Switching from mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis provides diseased cells with advantages because of the rapid production of ATP and the activation of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) which provides nucleotides required for elevated cellular metabolism. Molecules, called glycolytics, inhibit aerobic glycolysis and convert cells to a healthier phenotype. Glycolytics often function by inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor-1α leading to PDC disinhibition allowing for intramitochondrial conversion of pyruvate into acetyl coenzyme A. Melatonin is a glycolytic which converts diseased cells to the healthier phenotype. Herein we propose that melatonin's function as a glycolytic explains its actions in inhibiting a variety of diseases. Thus, the common denominator is melatonin's action in switching the metabolic phenotype of cells.