Reversed glucose and fatty acids transporter expression in human endometrial cancer

Abstract

Cancer cells exhibit accelerated rates of metabolism favoring glucose over fatty acid (FA) utilization. For both energy substrates, protein-mediated transport plays an essential role in facilitating glucose or FA movement across plasma membrane into the cells. Scarce data exist regarding the expression of glucose and/or FA transporter in cancer tissue. Therefore, we examined glucose (GLUT-1, GLUT-3, GLUT-4) and FA (FAT/CD36, FABPpm, FATP-1) transporter expressions at the protein and post-transcript (mRNA) levels in 35 endometrial carcinomas (G1, type endometrioid, FIGO I) and compared them with normal endometrial mucosa (n=10). Endometrial cancer tissue had significantly greater protein expression of GLUT-1, GLUT-3, and GLUT-4 (+ 40%; + 20%; + 24%; p<0.05, respectively) and, conversely, lower fatty acid (FAT/CD36 and FATP-1) transporter expression ( - 25%; p<0.05 and - 15%, p>0.05 respectively). Interestingly, mRNA content closely mirrors the changes, but only for glucose transporters and not fatty acid transporters. These results suggest the presence of metabolic switch of energy utilization in endometrial cancers favoring glucose consumption as the major source of energy.