Browsing by Author "Baddour, Joelle"

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    Amplification of USP13 drives ovarian cancer metabolism
    (Springer Nature, 2016) Han, Cecil; Yang, Lifeng; Choi, Hyun Ho; Baddour, Joelle; Achreja, Abhinav; Liu, Yunhua; Li, Yujing; Li, Jiada; Wan, Guohui; Huang, Cheng; Ji, Guang; Zhang, Xinna; Nagrath, Deepak; Lu, Xiongbin; Bioengineering; Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    Dysregulated energetic metabolism has been recently identified as a hallmark of cancer. Although mutations in metabolic enzymes hardwire metabolism to tumourigenesis, they are relatively infrequent in ovarian cancer. More often, cancer metabolism is re-engineered by altered abundance and activity of the metabolic enzymes. Here we identify ubiquitin-specific peptidase 13 (USP13) as a master regulator that drives ovarian cancer metabolism. USP13 specifically deubiquitinates and thus upregulates ATP citrate lyase and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, two key enzymes that determine mitochondrial respiration, glutaminolysis and fatty acid synthesis. The USP13 gene is co-amplified with PIK3CA in 29.3% of high-grade serous ovarian cancers and its overexpression is significantly associated with poor clinical outcome. Inhibiting USP13 remarkably suppresses ovarian tumour progression and sensitizes tumour cells to the treatment of PI3K/AKT inhibitor. Our results reveal an important metabolism-centric role of USP13, which may lead to potential therapeutics targeting USP13 in ovarian cancers.
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    HSulf-1 deficiency dictates a metabolic reprograming of glycolysis and TCA cycle in ovarian cancer
    (Impact Journals, LLC., 2015) Mondal, Susmita; Roy, Debarshi; Camacho-Pereira, Juliana; Khurana, Ashwani; Chini, Eduardo; Yang, Lifeng; Baddour, Joelle; Stilles, Katherine; Padmabandu, Seth; Leung, Sam; Kalloger, Steve; Gilks, Blake; Lowe, Val; Dierks, Thomas; Hammond, Edward; Dredge, Keith; Nagrath, Deepak; Shridhar, Viji
    Warburg effect has emerged as a potential hallmark of many cancers. However, the molecular mechanisms that led to this metabolic state of aerobic glycolysis, particularly in ovarian cancer (OVCA) have not been completely elucidated. HSulf-1 predominantly functions by limiting the bioavailability of heparan binding growth factors and hence their downstream signaling. Here we report that HSulf-1, a known putative tumor suppressor, is a negative regulator of glycolysis. Silencing of HSulf-1 expression in OV202 cell line increased glucose uptake and lactate production by upregulating glycolytic genes such as Glut1, HKII, LDHA, as well as metabolites. Conversely, HSulf-1 overexpression in TOV21G cells resulted in the down regulation of glycolytic enzymes and reduced glycolytic phenotype, supporting the role of HSulf-1 loss in enhanced aerobic glycolysis. HSulf-1 deficiency mediated glycolytic enhancement also resulted in increased inhibitory phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) thus blocking the entry of glucose flux into TCA cycle. Consistent with this, metabolomic and isotope tracer analysis showed reduced glucose flux into TCA cycle. Moreover, HSulf-1 loss is associated with lower oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and impaired mitochondrial function. Mechanistically, lack of HSulf-1 promotes c-Myc induction through HB-EGF-mediated p-ERK activation. Pharmacological inhibition of c-Myc reduced HB-EGF induced glycolytic enzymes implicating a major role of c-Myc in loss of HSulf-1 mediated altered glycolytic pathway in OVCA. Similarly, PG545 treatment, an agent that binds to heparan binding growth factors and sequesters growth factors away from their ligand also blocked HB-EGF signaling and reduced glucose uptake in vivo in HSulf-1 deficient cells.
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    Tumor microenvironment derived exosomes pleiotropically modulate cancer cell metabolism
    (eLife Sciences Publications Ltd., 2016) Zhao, Hongyun; Yang, Lifeng; Baddour, Joelle; Achreja, Abhinav; Bernard, Vincent; Moss, Tyler; Marini, Juan C.; Tudawe, Thavisha; Seviour, Elena G.; San Lucas, F. Anthony; Alvarez, Hector; Gupta, Sonal; Maiti, Sourindra N.; Cooper, Laurence; Peehl, Donna; Ram, Prahlad T.; Maitra, Anirban; Nagrath, Deepak; Bioengineering; Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Laboratory for Systems Biology of Human Diseases
    Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a major cellular component of tumor microenvironment in most solid cancers. Altered cellular metabolism is a hallmark of cancer, and much of the published literature has focused on neoplastic cell-autonomous processes for these adaptations. We demonstrate that exosomes secreted by patient-derived CAFs can strikingly reprogram the metabolic machinery following their uptake by cancer cells. We find that CAF-derived exosomes (CDEs) inhibit mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, thereby increasing glycolysis and glutamine-dependent reductive carboxylation in cancer cells. Through 13C-labeled isotope labeling experiments we elucidate that exosomes supply amino acids to nutrient-deprived cancer cells in a mechanism similar to macropinocytosis, albeit without the previously described dependence on oncogenic-Kras signaling. Using intra-exosomal metabolomics, we provide compelling evidence that CDEs contain intact metabolites, including amino acids, lipids, and TCA-cycle intermediates that are avidly utilized by cancer cells for central carbon metabolism and promoting tumor growth under nutrient deprivation or nutrient stressed conditions.