Inhibition of Crif1 protects fatty acid-induced POMC neuron-like cell-line damage by increasing CPT-1 function

Hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons are sensors of signals that reflect the energy stored in the body. Inducing mild stress in proopiomelanocortin neurons protects them from the damage promoted by the consumption of a high-fat diet, mitigating the development of obesity; however, the cellular mechanisms behind these effects are unknown. Here, we induced mild stress in a proopiomelanocortin neuron cell line by inhibiting Crif1. In proopiomelanocortin neurons exposed to high levels of palmitate, the partial inhibition of Crif1 reverted the defects in mitochondrial respiration and ATP production; this was accompanied by improved mitochondrial fusion/fission cycling. Furthermore, the partial inhibition of Crif1 resulted in increased reactive oxygen species production, increased fatty acid oxidation, and reduced dependency on glucose for mitochondrial respiration. These changes were dependent on the activity of CPT-1. Thus, we identified a CPT-1-dependent metabolic shift toward greater utilization of fatty acids as substrates for respiration as the mechanism behind the protective effect of mild stress against palmitate-induced damage of proopiomelanocortin neurons.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Saturated fats can damage hypothalamic neurons resulting in positive energy balance, and this is mitigated by mild cellular stress; however, the mechanisms behind this protective effect are unknown. Using a proopiomelanocortin cell line, we show that under exposure to a high concentration of palmitate, the partial inhibition of the mitochondrial protein Crif1 results in protection due to a metabolic shift warranted by the increased expression and activity of the mitochondrial fatty acid transporter CPT-1.

Leptin Signaling Suppression in Macrophages Improves Immunometabolic Outcomes in Obesity

Obesity is a major concern for global health care systems. Systemic low-grade inflammation in obesity is a major risk factor for insulin resistance. Leptin is an adipokine secreted by the adipose tissue that functions by controlling food intake, leading to satiety. Leptin levels are increased in obesity. Here, we show that leptin enhances the effects of LPS in macrophages, intensifying the production of cytokines, glycolytic rates, and morphological and functional changes in the mitochondria through an mTORC2-dependent, mTORC1-independent mechanism. Leptin also boosts the effects of IL-4 in macrophages, leading to increased oxygen consumption, expression of macrophage markers associated with a tissue repair phenotype, and wound healing. In vivo, hyperleptinemia caused by diet-induced obesity increases the inflammatory response by macrophages. Deletion of leptin receptor and subsequently of leptin signaling in myeloid cells (ObR-/-) is sufficient to improve insulin resistance in obese mice and decrease systemic inflammation. Our results indicate that leptin acts as a systemic nutritional checkpoint to regulate macrophage fitness and contributes to obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance. Thus, specific interventions aimed at downstream modulators of leptin signaling may represent new therapeutic targets to treat obesity-induced systemic inflammation.

Dual inhibition of glutaminase and carnitine palmitoyltransferase decreases growth and migration of glutaminase inhibition-resistant triple-negative breast cancer cells

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) lack progesterone and estrogen receptors and do not have amplified human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, the main therapeutic targets for managing breast cancer. TNBCs have an altered metabolism, including an increased Warburg effect and glutamine dependence, making the glutaminase inhibitor CB-839 therapeutically promising for this tumor type. Accordingly, CB-839 is currently in phase I/II clinical trials. However, not all TNBCs respond to CB-839 treatment, and the tumor resistance mechanism is not yet fully understood. Here we classified cell lines as CB-839-sensitive or -resistant according to their growth responses to CB-839. Compared with sensitive cells, resistant cells were less glutaminolytic and, upon CB-839 treatment, exhibited a smaller decrease in ATP content and less mitochondrial fragmentation, an indicator of poor mitochondrial health. Transcriptional analyses revealed that the expression levels of genes linked to lipid metabolism were altered between sensitive and resistant cells and between breast cancer tissues (available from The Cancer Genome Atlas project) with low versus high glutaminase (GLS) gene expression. Of note, CB-839-resistant TNBC cells had increased carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 (CPT2) protein and CPT1 activity levels. In agreement, CB-839-resistant TNBC cells mobilized more fatty acids into mitochondria for oxidation, which responded to AMP-activated protein kinase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase signaling. Moreover, chemical inhibition of both glutaminase and CPT1 decreased cell proliferation and migration of CB-839-resistant cells compared with single inhibition of each enzyme. We propose that dual targeting of glutaminase and CPT1 activities may have therapeutic relevance for managing CB-839-resistant tumors.

Guanylate-binding protein-1 is a potential new therapeutic target for triple-negative breast cancer

Background

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by a lack of estrogen and progesterone receptor expression (ESR and PGR, respectively) and an absence of human epithelial growth factor receptor (ERBB2) amplification. Approximately 15–20% of breast malignancies are TNBC. Patients with TNBC often have an unfavorable prognosis. In addition, TNBC represents an important clinical challenge since it does not respond to hormone therapy.

Methods

In this work, we integrated high-throughput mRNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data from normal and tumor tissues (obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas, TCGA) and cell lines obtained through in-house sequencing or available from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to generate a unified list of differentially expressed (DE) genes. Methylome and proteomic data were integrated to our analysis to give further support to our findings. Genes that were overexpressed in TNBC were then curated to retain new potentially druggable targets based on in silico analysis. Knocking-down was used to assess gene importance for TNBC cell proliferation.

Results

Our pipeline analysis generated a list of 243 potential new targets for treating TNBC. We finally demonstrated that knock-down of Guanylate-Binding Protein 1 (GBP1 ), one of the candidate genes, selectively affected the growth of TNBC cell lines. Moreover, we showed that GBP1 expression was controlled by epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in breast cancer cell lines.

Conclusions

We propose that GBP1 is a new potential druggable therapeutic target for treating TNBC with enhanced EGFR expression.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-017-3726-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.