A hexokinase isoenzyme switch in human liver cancer cells promotes lipogenesis and enhances innate immunity.

During the cancerous transformation of normal hepatocytes into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the enzyme catalyzing the first rate-limiting step of glycolysis, namely the glucokinase (GCK), is replaced by the higher affinity isoenzyme, hexokinase 2 (HK2). Here, we show that in HCC tumors the highest expression level of HK2 is inversely correlated to GCK expression, and is associated to poor prognosis for patient survival. To further explore functional consequences of the GCK-to-HK2 isoenzyme switch occurring during carcinogenesis, HK2 was knocked-out in the HCC cell line Huh7 and replaced by GCK, to generate the Huh7-GCK+/HK2- cell line. HK2 knockdown and GCK expression rewired central carbon metabolism, stimulated mitochondrial respiration and restored essential metabolic functions of normal hepatocytes such as lipogenesis, VLDL secretion, glycogen storage. It also reactivated innate immune responses and sensitivity to natural killer cells, showing that consequences of the HK switch extend beyond metabolic reprogramming.

Cistromic Reprogramming of the Diurnal Glucocorticoid Hormone Response by High-Fat Diet.

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a potent metabolic regulator and a major drug target. While GR is known to play integral roles in circadian biology, its rhythmic genomic actions have never been characterized. Here we mapped GR's chromatin occupancy in mouse livers throughout the day and night cycle. We show how GR partitions metabolic processes by time-dependent target gene regulation and controls circulating glucose and triglycerides differentially during feeding and fasting. Highlighting the dominant role GR plays in synchronizing circadian amplitudes, we find that the majority of oscillating genes are bound by and depend on GR. This rhythmic pattern is altered by high-fat diet in a ligand-independent manner. We find that the remodeling of oscillatory gene expression and postprandial GR binding results from a concomitant increase of STAT5 co-occupancy in obese mice. Altogether, our findings highlight GR's fundamental role in the rhythmic orchestration of hepatic metabolism.

A network of epigenomic and transcriptional cooperation encompassing an epigenomic master regulator in cancer.

Coordinated experiments focused on transcriptional responses and chromatin states are well-equipped to capture different epigenomic and transcriptomic levels governing the circuitry of a regulatory network. We propose a workflow for the genome-wide identification of epigenomic and transcriptional cooperation to elucidate transcriptional networks in cancer. Gene promoter annotation in combination with network analysis and sequence-resolution of enriched transcriptional motifs in epigenomic data reveals transcription factor families that act synergistically with epigenomic master regulators. By investigating complementary omics levels, a close teamwork of the transcriptional and epigenomic machinery was discovered. The discovered network is tightly connected and surrounds the histone lysine demethylase KDM3A, basic helix-loop-helix factors MYC, HIF1A, and SREBF1, as well as differentiation factors AP1, MYOD1, SP1, MEIS1, ZEB1, and ELK1. In such a cooperative network, one component opens the chromatin, another one recognizes gene-specific DNA motifs, others scaffold between histones, cofactors, and the transcriptional complex. In cancer, due to the ability to team up with transcription factors, epigenetic factors concert mitogenic and metabolic gene networks, claiming the role of a cancer master regulators or epioncogenes. Significantly, specific histone modification patterns are commonly associated with open or closed chromatin states, and are linked to distinct biological outcomes by transcriptional activation or repression. Disruption of patterns of histone modifications is associated with the loss of proliferative control and cancer. There is tremendous therapeutic potential in understanding and targeting histone modification pathways. Thus, investigating cooperation of chromatin remodelers and the transcriptional machinery is not only important for elucidating fundamental mechanisms of chromatin regulation, but also necessary for the design of targeted therapeutics.

Hypermutation of DPYD Deregulates Pyrimidine Metabolism and Promotes Malignant Progression.

UNLABELLED: New strategies are needed to diagnose and target human melanoma. To this end, genomic analyses was performed to assess somatic mutations and gene expression signatures using a large cohort of human skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project to identify critical differences between primary and metastatic tumors. Interestingly, pyrimidine metabolism is one of the major pathways to be significantly enriched and deregulated at the transcriptional level in melanoma progression. In addition, dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) and other important pyrimidine-related genes: DPYS, AK9, CAD, CANT1, ENTPD1, NME6, NT5C1A, POLE, POLQ, POLR3B, PRIM2, REV3L, and UPP2 are significantly enriched in somatic mutations relative to the background mutation rate. Structural analysis of the DPYD protein dimer reveals a potential hotspot of recurring somatic mutations in the ligand-binding sites as well as the interfaces of protein domains that mediated electron transfer. Somatic mutations of DPYD are associated with upregulation of pyrimidine degradation, nucleotide synthesis, and nucleic acid processing while salvage and nucleotide conversion is downregulated in TCGA SKCM. IMPLICATIONS: At a systems biology level, somatic mutations of DPYD cause a switch in pyrimidine metabolism and promote gene expression of pyrimidine enzymes toward malignant progression.