Insulin resistance is associated with a metabolic profile of altered protein metabolism in Chinese and Asian-Indian men.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Insulin resistance (IR) is associated with obesity, but can also develop in individuals with normal body weight. We employed comprehensive profiling methods to identify metabolic events associated with IR, while controlling for obesity. METHODS: We selected 263 non-obese (BMI approximately 24 kg/m2) Asian-Indian and Chinese men from a large cross-sectional study carried out in Singapore. Individuals taking medication for diabetes or hyperlipidaemia were excluded. Participants were separated into lower and upper tertiles of IR based on HOMA indices of < or =1.06 or > or =1.93, respectively. MS-based metabolic profiling of acylcarnitines, amino acids and organic acids was combined with hormonal and cytokine profiling in all participants. RESULTS: After controlling for BMI, commonly accepted risk factors for IR, including circulating fatty acids and inflammatory cytokines, did not discriminate the upper and lower quartiles of insulin sensitivity in either Asian- Indian or Chinese men. Instead, IR was correlated with increased levels of alanine, proline, valine, leucine/isoleucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutamate/glutamine and ornithine, and a cluster of branched-chain and related amino acids identified by principal components analysis. These changes were not due to increased protein intake by individuals in the upper quartile of IR. Increased abdominal adiposity and leptin, and decreased adiponectin and IGF-binding protein 1 were also correlated with IR. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These findings demonstrate that perturbations in amino acid homeostasis, but not inflammatory markers or NEFAs, are associated with IR in individuals of relatively low body mass.

Isoprenylcysteine carboxylmethyltransferase regulates mitochondrial respiration and cancer cell metabolism.

Isoprenylcysteine carboxylmethyltransferase (Icmt) catalyzes the last of the three-step posttranslational protein prenylation process for the so-called CaaX proteins, which includes many signaling proteins, such as most small GTPases. Despite extensive studies on Icmt and its regulation of cell functions, the mechanisms of much of the impact of Icmt on cellular functions remain unclear. Our recent studies demonstrated that suppression of Icmt results in induction of autophagy, inhibition of cell growth and inhibition of proliferation in various cancer cell types, prompting this investigation of potential metabolic regulation by Icmt. We report here the findings that Icmt inhibition reduces the function of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in multiple cancer cell lines. In-depth oximetry analysis demonstrated that functions of mitochondrial complex I, II and III are subject to Icmt regulation. Consistently, Icmt inhibition decreased cellular ATP and depleted critical tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites, leading to suppression of cell anabolism and growth, and marked autophagy. Several different approaches demonstrated that the impact of Icmt inhibition on cell proliferation and viability was largely mediated by its effect on mitochondrial respiration. This previously unappreciated function of Icmt, which can be therapeutically exploited, likely has a significant role in the impact of Icmt on tumorigenic processes.

Androgens regulate prostate cancer cell growth via an AMPK-PGC-1α-mediated metabolic switch.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among men in industrialized countries, accounting for the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Although we now know that the androgen receptor (AR) is important for progression to the deadly advanced stages of the disease, it is poorly understood what AR-regulated processes drive this pathology. Here we demonstrate that AR regulates prostate cancer cell growth via the metabolic sensor 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a kinase that classically regulates cellular energy homeostasis. In patients, activation of AMPK correlated with prostate cancer progression. Using a combination of radiolabeled assays and emerging metabolomic approaches, we also show that prostate cancer cells respond to androgen treatment by increasing not only rates of glycolysis, as is commonly seen in many cancers, but also glucose and fatty acid oxidation. Importantly, this effect was dependent on androgen-mediated AMPK activity. Our results further indicate that the AMPK-mediated metabolic changes increased intracellular ATP levels and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α)-mediated mitochondrial biogenesis, affording distinct growth advantages to the prostate cancer cells. Correspondingly, we used outlier analysis to determine that PGC-1α is overexpressed in a subpopulation of clinical cancer samples. This was in contrast to what was observed in immortalized benign human prostate cells and a testosterone-induced rat model of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Taken together, our findings converge to demonstrate that androgens can co-opt the AMPK-PGC-1α signaling cascade, a known homeostatic mechanism, to increase prostate cancer cell growth. The current study points to the potential utility of developing metabolic-targeted therapies directed toward the AMPK-PGC-1α signaling axis for the treatment of prostate cancer.