Resistance to Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer Is Connected to Methylglyoxal Stress and Heat Shock Response.
Cells
; 12(10)2023 05 17.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37408249
ABSTRACT
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a fatal disease with poor prognosis. Gemcitabine is the first-line therapy for PDAC, but gemcitabine resistance is a major impediment to achieving satisfactory clinical outcomes. This study investigated whether methylglyoxal (MG), an oncometabolite spontaneously formed as a by-product of glycolysis, notably favors PDAC resistance to gemcitabine. We observed that human PDAC tumors expressing elevated levels of glycolytic enzymes together with high levels of glyoxalase 1 (GLO1), the major MG-detoxifying enzyme, present with a poor prognosis. Next, we showed that glycolysis and subsequent MG stress are triggered in PDAC cells rendered resistant to gemcitabine when compared with parental cells. In fact, acquired resistance, following short and long-term gemcitabine challenges, correlated with the upregulation of GLUT1, LDHA, GLO1, and the accumulation of MG protein adducts. We showed that MG-mediated activation of heat shock response is, at least in part, the molecular mechanism underlying survival in gemcitabine-treated PDAC cells. This novel adverse effect of gemcitabine, i.e., induction of MG stress and HSR activation, is efficiently reversed using potent MG scavengers such as metformin and aminoguanidine. We propose that the MG blockade could be exploited to resensitize resistant PDAC tumors and to improve patient outcomes using gemcitabine therapy.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Neoplasias Pancreáticas
/
Carcinoma Ductal Pancreático
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Cells
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Bélgica