Effect of a Single Bout of Aerobic Exercise on Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites and Inflammatory Markers in Prostate Cancer Patients-A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Exercise Metabolome: Insights for Health and Performance

Exercise has many benefits for physical and mental well-being. Metabolomics research has allowed scientists to study the impact of exercise on the body by analyzing metabolites released by tissues such as skeletal muscle, bone, and the liver. Endurance training increases mitochondrial content and oxidative enzymes, while resistance training increases muscle fiber and glycolytic enzymes. Acute endurance exercise affects amino acid metabolism, fat metabolism, cellular energy metabolism, and cofactor and vitamin metabolism. Subacute endurance exercise alters amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism. Chronic endurance exercise improves lipid metabolism and changes amino acid metabolism. Acute resistance exercise changes several metabolic pathways, including anaerobic processes and muscular strength. Chronic resistance exercise affects metabolic pathways, resulting in skeletal muscle adaptations. Combined endurance-resistance exercise alters lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and amino acid metabolism, increasing anaerobic metabolic capacity and fatigue resistance. Studying exercise-induced metabolites is a growing field, and further research can uncover the underlying metabolic mechanisms and help tailor exercise programs for optimal health and performance.

Inflammation and Prostate Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Identifying Opportunities for Treatment and Prevention

Prostate cancer is a major cause of disease for men globally. Inflammation, an established hallmark of cancer, is frequently observed in the prostate, though its contribution to prostate cancer risks and outcomes is not fully understood. Prostate cancer is biologically and clinically heterogeneous, and there is now evidence that inflammation and immunological characteristics vary by the genomic and mutational landscape of the tumor. Moreover, it is now recognized that risk factor profiles vary between tumor subgroups, as defined by histopathological and molecular features. Here, we provide a review centered around the relationship between inflammation and prostate cancer, with a consideration of molecular tumor features and a particular focus on the advanced and lethal stages of disease. We summarize findings from epidemiological studies of the etiology and role of inflammation in prostate cancer. We discuss the pathology of prostate inflammation, and consider approaches for assessing the tumor immune microenvironment in epidemiological studies. We review emerging clinical therapies targeting immune biology within the context of prostate cancer. Finally, we consider potentially modifiable risk factors and corresponding lifestyle interventions that may affect prostate inflammation, impacting outcomes. These emerging insights will provide some hints for the development of treatment and prevention strategies for advanced and lethal prostate cancer.

Tryptophan metabolism induced by TDO2 promotes prostatic cancer chemotherapy resistance in a AhR/c-Myc dependent manner

BACKGROUND

Tumor cells exhibit enhanced metabolism of nutrients to satisfy the demand of sustained proliferation in vivo. Seminal reports have presented evidence that tryptophan (Trp) metabolic reprogramming induced by aberrant indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenases could promote tumor development in several cancer types. However, the underlying mechanism of Trp metabolism associated tumor progression is not fully understood.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Prostatic cell lines LNCaP and VCaP were purchased from the Cell Bank of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China). Human prostatic tumor tissue samples were obtained from the Tongji Hospital. Female NOD-SCID mice (6 ~ 8 weeks) were purchased from Huafukang Co. (China) and raised in SPF room. Commercial kits and instruments were used for cell apoptosis analysis, real-time PCR, western blotting, ELISA analysis and other experiments.

RESULT

Comparing the tumor tissues from prostatic cancer patients, we found elevated expression of tryptophan 2, 3-dioxygenase 2 (TDO2), and elevated Trp metabolism in chemo-resistant tumor tissues. In vitro, overexpression of TDO2 significantly promoted the Trp metabolism in prostatic cancer cell lines LNCaP and VCap, resulting in the multidrug resistance development. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that Trp metabolite kynurenine (Kyn) promoted the upregulation and nuclear translocation of transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Subsequently, AhR collaborated with NF-κB to facilitate the activation of c-Myc. In turn, c-Myc promoted the up-regulation of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and Trp transporters, thereby contributing to chemoresistance and strengthened Trp metabolism in prostatic cancer. Interrupt of Trp/TDO2/Kyn/AhR/c-Myc loop with c-Myc inhibitor Mycro-3 efficiently suppressed the chemoresistance and improved the outcome of chemotherapy, which described a new strategy in clinical prostatic cancer treatment.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrates that elevated TOD2 expression promoted Trp metabolism and metabolite Kyn production, thus resulting in the activation of AhR/c-Myc/ABC-SLC transporters signaling pathway. Interrupt of Trp metabolism/c-Myc loop efficiently suppressed the drugs resistance induced by TDO2, which represented potential target to improve the outcome in drug-resistant prostatic cancer treatment.

Effects of Tryptophan Supplementation and Exercise on the Fate of Kynurenine Metabolites in Mice and Humans

The kynurenine pathway of tryptophan (TRP) degradation (KP) generates metabolites with effects on metabolism, immunity, and mental health. Endurance exercise training can change KP metabolites by changing the levels of KP enzymes in skeletal muscle. This leads to a metabolite pattern that favors energy expenditure and an anti-inflammatory immune cell profile and reduces neurotoxic metabolites. Here, we aimed to understand if TRP supplementation in untrained vs. trained subjects affects KP metabolite levels and biological effects. Our data show that chronic TRP supplementation in mice increases all KP metabolites in circulation, and that exercise reduces the neurotoxic branch of the pathway. However, in addition to increasing wheel running, we did not observe other effects of TRP supplementation on training adaptations, energy metabolism or behavior in mice. A similar increase in KP metabolites was seen in trained vs. untrained human volunteers that took a TRP drink while performing a bout of aerobic exercise. With this acute TRP administration, TRP and KYN were higher in the trained vs. the untrained group. Considering the many biological effects of the KP, which can lead to beneficial or deleterious effects to health, our data encourage future studies of the crosstalk between TRP supplementation and physical exercise.

Not Only Immune Escape-The Confusing Role of the TRP Metabolic Pathway in Carcinogenesis

BACKGROUND

The recently discovered phenomenon that cancer cells can avoid immune response has gained scientists' interest. One of the pathways involved in this process is tryptophan (TRP) metabolism through the kynurenine pathway (KP). Individual components involved in TRP conversion seem to contribute to cancerogenesis both through a direct impact on cancer cells and the modulation of immune cell functionality. Due to this fact, this pathway may serve as a target for immunotherapy and attempts are being made to create novel compounds effective in cancer treatment. However, the results obtained from clinical trials are not satisfactory, which raises questions about the exact role of KP elements in tumorigenesis. An increasing number of experiments reveal that TRP metabolites may either be tumor promoters and suppressors and this is why further research in this field is highly needed. The aim of this study is to present KP as a modulator of cancer development through multiple mechanisms and to point to its ambiguity, which may be a reason for failures in treatment based on the inhibition of tryptophan metabolism.

Using Metabolomics to Differentiate Player Positions in Elite Male Basketball Games: A Pilot Study

Purpose: The current study compared metabolic profiles and movement patterns between different player positions and explored relationships between indicators of internal and external loads during elite male basketball games.

Methods: Five main players from 14 basketball teams (n = 70) were selected as subjects and defined as backcourt (positions 1–3) or frontcourt (positions 4–5) players. Video-based time motion analysis (VBTMA) was performed based on players’ individual maximal speeds. Movements were classified into high and low intensity running with and without ball, high and low intensity shuffling, static effort and jumps. Saliva samples were collected before and after 40-min basketball games with metabolomics data being analyzed by multivariate statistics. Independent t-tests were used to compare VBTMA.

Results: Frequency, duration, and distance of high and low intensity running and -shuffling were higher in backcourt players, whereas static effort duration and frequency as well as jump frequency were higher in frontcourt players (all p ≤ 0.05). The levels of taurine, succinic acid, citric acid, pyruvate, glycerol, acetoacetic acid, acetone, and hypoxanthine were higher in backcourt players, while lactate, alanine, 3-methylhistidine were higher and methionine was lower in frontcourt players (all p < 0.05). High intensity running with ball was significantly associated by acetylecholine, hopoxanthine, histidine, lactic acid and leucine in backcourt players (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: We demonstrate different metabolic profiles of backcourt and frontcourt players during elite male basketball games; while aerobic metabolic changes are more present in backcourt players, frontcourt players showed lager changes in anaerobic metabolic pathways due to more static movements.