Identification of Fasnall as a therapeutically effective Complex I inhibitor.

Proliferating cancer cells actively utilize anabolic processes for biomass production, including de novo biosynthesis of amino acids, nucleotides, and fatty acids. The key enzyme of the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway, fatty acid synthase (FASN), is widely recognized as a promising therapeutic target in cancer and other health conditions1,2. Here, we establish a metabolic signature of FASN inhibition using a panel of pharmacological inhibitors (GSK2194069, TVB-2640, TVB-3166, C75, cerulenin, and Fasnall). We find that the activity of commonly used FASN inhibitors is inconsistent with the metabolic signature of FASN inhibition (accumulation of malonate, succinate, malonyl coenzyme A, succinyl coenzyme A, and other metabolic perturbations). Moreover, we show that one of these putative FASN inhibitors, Fasnall, is a respiratory Complex I inhibitor that mimics FASN inhibition through NADH accumulation and consequent depletion of the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites. We demonstrate that Fasnall impairs tumor growth in several oxidative phosphorylation-dependent cancer models, including combination therapy-resistant melanoma patient-derived xenografts. Fasnall administration does not reproduce neurological side effects in mice reported for other Complex I inhibitors3,4. Our results have significant implications for understanding the FASN role in human health and disease and provide evidence of therapeutic potential for Complex I inhibitors with fast systemic clearance. Our findings also highlight the continuing need for validation of small molecule inhibitors to distinguish high-quality chemical probes and to expand the understanding of their application.

Acetate acts as a metabolic immunomodulator by bolstering T-cell effector function and potentiating antitumor immunity in breast cancer.

Acetate metabolism is an important metabolic pathway in many cancers and is controlled by acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2), an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of acetate to acetyl-CoA. While the metabolic role of ACSS2 in cancer is well described, the consequences of blocking tumor acetate metabolism on the tumor microenvironment and antitumor immunity are unknown. We demonstrate that blocking ACSS2, switches cancer cells from acetate consumers to producers of acetate thereby freeing acetate for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to use as a fuel source. We show that acetate supplementation metabolically bolsters T-cell effector functions and proliferation. Targeting ACSS2 with CRISPR-Cas9 guides or a small-molecule inhibitor promotes an antitumor immune response and enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy in preclinical breast cancer models. We propose a paradigm for targeting acetate metabolism in cancer in which inhibition of ACSS2 dually acts to impair tumor cell metabolism and potentiate antitumor immunity.

Co-Targeting FASN and mTOR Suppresses Uveal Melanoma Growth.

Uveal melanoma (UM) displays a high frequency of metastasis; however, effective therapies for metastatic UM are limited. Identifying unique metabolic features of UM may provide a potential targeting strategy. A lipid metabolism protein expression signature was induced in a normal choroidal melanocyte (NCM) line transduced with GNAQ (Q209L), a driver in UM growth and development. Consistently, UM cells expressed elevated levels of fatty acid synthase (FASN) compared to NCMs. FASN upregulation was associated with increased mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) levels. FASN and mTOR inhibitors alone significantly reduced UM cell growth. Concurrent inhibition of FASN and mTOR further reduced UM cell growth by promoting cell cycle arrest and inhibiting glucose utilization, TCA cycle metabolism, and de novo fatty acid biosynthesis. Our findings indicate that FASN is important for UM cell growth and co-inhibition of FASN and mTOR signaling may be considered for treatment of UM.

Glycine decarboxylase maintains mitochondrial protein lipoylation to support tumor growth.

The folic acid cycle mediates the transfer of one-carbon (1C) units to support nucleotide biosynthesis. While the importance of serine as a mitochondrial and cytosolic donor of folate-mediated 1C units in cancer cells has been thoroughly investigated, a potential role of glycine oxidation remains unclear. We developed an approach for quantifying mitochondrial glycine cleavage system (GCS) flux by combining stable and radioactive isotope tracing with computational flux decomposition. We find high GCS flux in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), supporting nucleotide biosynthesis. Surprisingly, other than supplying 1C units, we found that GCS is important for maintaining protein lipoylation and mitochondrial activity. Genetic silencing of glycine decarboxylase inhibits the lipoylation and activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase and impairs tumor growth, suggesting a novel drug target for HCC. Considering the physiological role of liver glycine cleavage, our results support the notion that tissue of origin plays an important role in tumor-specific metabolic rewiring.

Tumor Reliance on Cytosolic versus Mitochondrial One-Carbon Flux Depends on Folate Availability.

Folate metabolism supplies one-carbon (1C) units for biosynthesis and methylation and has long been a target for cancer chemotherapy. Mitochondrial serine catabolism is considered the sole contributor of folate-mediated 1C units in proliferating cancer cells. Here, we show that under physiological folate levels in the cell environment, cytosolic serine-hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT1) is the predominant source of 1C units in a variety of cancers, while mitochondrial 1C flux is overly repressed. Tumor-specific reliance on cytosolic 1C flux is associated with poor capacity to retain intracellular folates, which is determined by the expression of SLC19A1, which encodes the reduced folate carrier (RFC). We show that silencing SHMT1 in cells with low RFC expression impairs pyrimidine biosynthesis and tumor growth in vivo. Overall, our findings reveal major diversity in cancer cell utilization of the cytosolic versus mitochondrial folate cycle across tumors and SLC19A1 expression as a marker for increased reliance on SHMT1.

Fast and sensitive flow-injection mass spectrometry metabolomics by analyzing sample-specific ion distributions.

Mass spectrometry based metabolomics is a widely used approach in biomedical research. However, current methods coupling mass spectrometry with chromatography are time-consuming and not suitable for high-throughput analysis of thousands of samples. An alternative approach is flow-injection mass spectrometry (FI-MS) in which samples are directly injected to the ionization source. Here, we show that the sensitivity of Orbitrap FI-MS metabolomics methods is limited by ion competition effect. We describe an approach for overcoming this effect by analyzing the distribution of ion m/z values and computationally determining a series of optimal scan ranges. This enables reproducible detection of ~9,000 and ~10,000 m/z features in metabolomics and lipidomics analysis of serum samples, respectively, with a sample scan time of ~15 s and duty time of ~30 s; a ~50% increase versus current spectral-stitching FI-MS. This approach facilitates high-throughput metabolomics for a variety of applications, including biomarker discovery and functional genomics screens.

Blimp1+ cells generate functional mouse sebaceous gland organoids in vitro.

Most studies on the skin focus primarily on the hair follicle and interfollicular epidermis, whereas little is known regarding the homeostasis of the sebaceous gland (SG). The SG has been proposed to be replenished by different pools of hair follicle stem cells and cells that resides in the SG base, marked by Blimp1. Here, we demonstrate that single Blimp1+ cells isolated from mice have the potential to generate SG organoids in vitro. Mimicking SG homeostasis, the outer layer of these organoids is composed of proliferating cells that migrate inward, undergo terminal differentiation and generating lipid-filled sebocytes. Performing confocal microscopy and mass-spectrometry, we report that these organoids exhibit known markers and a lipidomic profile similar to SGs in vivo. Furthermore, we identify a role for c-Myc in sebocyte proliferation and differentiation, and determine that SG organoids can serve as a platform for studying initial stages of acne vulgaris, making this a useful platform to identify potential therapeutic targets.

Spatial-fluxomics provides a subcellular-compartmentalized view of reductive glutamine metabolism in cancer cells.

The inability to inspect metabolic activities within subcellular compartments has been a major barrier to our understanding of eukaryotic cell metabolism. Here, we describe a spatial-fluxomics approach for inferring metabolic fluxes in mitochondria and cytosol under physiological conditions, combining isotope tracing, rapid subcellular fractionation, LC-MS-based metabolomics, computational deconvolution, and metabolic network modeling. Applied to study reductive glutamine metabolism in cancer cells, shown to mediate fatty acid biosynthesis under hypoxia and defective mitochondria, we find a previously unappreciated role of reductive IDH1 as the sole net contributor of carbons to fatty acid biosynthesis under standard normoxic conditions in HeLa cells. In murine cells with defective SDH, we find that reductive biosynthesis of citrate in mitochondria is followed by a reversed CS activity, suggesting a new route for supporting pyrimidine biosynthesis. We expect this spatial-fluxomics approach to be a highly useful tool for elucidating the role of metabolic dysfunction in human disease.

A new ESI-LC/MS approach for comprehensive metabolic profiling of phytocannabinoids in Cannabis.

Most clinical studies of Cannabis today focus on the contents of two phytocannabinoids: (-)-Δ9-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), regardless of the fact that the plant contains over 100 additional phytocannabinoids whose therapeutic effects and interplay have not yet been fully elucidated. This narrow view of a complex Cannabis plant is insufficient to comprehend the medicinal and pharmacological effects of the whole plant. In this study we suggest a new ESI-LC/MS/MS approach to identify phytocannabinoids from 10 different subclasses, and comprehensively profile the identified compounds in diverse medical Cannabis plants. Overall, 94 phytocannabinoids were identified and used for profiling 36 of the most commonly used Cannabis plants prescribed to patients in Israel. In order to demonstrate the importance of comprehensive phytocannabinoid analysis before and throughout medical Cannabis clinical trials, treatments, or experiments, we evaluated the anticonvulsant effects of several equally high-CBD Cannabis extracts (50% w/w). We found that despite the similarity in CBD contents, not all Cannabis extracts produced the same effects. This study's approach for phytocannabinoid profiling can enable researchers and physicians to analyze the effects of specific Cannabis compositions and is therefore critical when performing biological, medical and pharmacological-based research using Cannabis.

Temporal fluxomics reveals oscillations in TCA cycle flux throughout the mammalian cell cycle.

Cellular metabolic demands change throughout the cell cycle. Nevertheless, a characterization of how metabolic fluxes adapt to the changing demands throughout the cell cycle is lacking. Here, we developed a temporal-fluxomics approach to derive a comprehensive and quantitative view of alterations in metabolic fluxes throughout the mammalian cell cycle. This is achieved by combining pulse-chase LC-MS-based isotope tracing in synchronized cell populations with computational deconvolution and metabolic flux modeling. We find that TCA cycle fluxes are rewired as cells progress through the cell cycle with complementary oscillations of glucose versus glutamine-derived fluxes: Oxidation of glucose-derived flux peaks in late G1 phase, while oxidative and reductive glutamine metabolism dominates S phase. These complementary flux oscillations maintain a constant production rate of reducing equivalents and oxidative phosphorylation flux throughout the cell cycle. The shift from glucose to glutamine oxidation in S phase plays an important role in cell cycle progression and cell proliferation.