Model-driven discovery of long-chain fatty acid metabolic reprogramming in heterogeneous prostate cancer cells

PLoS Comput Biol. 2018 Jan 2;14(1):e1005914. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005914. eCollection 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Epithelial-mesenchymal-transition promotes intra-tumoral heterogeneity, by enhancing tumor cell invasiveness and promoting drug resistance. We integrated transcriptomic data for two clonal subpopulations from a prostate cancer cell line (PC-3) into a genome-scale metabolic network model to explore their metabolic differences and potential vulnerabilities. In this dual cell model, PC-3/S cells express Epithelial-mesenchymal-transition markers and display high invasiveness and low metastatic potential, while PC-3/M cells present the opposite phenotype and higher proliferative rate. Model-driven analysis and experimental validations unveiled a marked metabolic reprogramming in long-chain fatty acids metabolism. While PC-3/M cells showed an enhanced entry of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria, PC-3/S cells used long-chain fatty acids as precursors of eicosanoid metabolism. We suggest that this metabolic reprogramming endows PC-3/M cells with augmented energy metabolism for fast proliferation and PC-3/S cells with increased eicosanoid production impacting angiogenesis, cell adhesion and invasion. PC-3/S metabolism also promotes the accumulation of docosahexaenoic acid, a long-chain fatty acid with antiproliferative effects. The potential therapeutic significance of our model was supported by a differential sensitivity of PC-3/M cells to etomoxir, an inhibitor of long-chain fatty acid transport to the mitochondria.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arachidonic Acid / metabolism
  • Biological Transport, Active / drug effects
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Computational Biology
  • Docosahexaenoic Acids / metabolism
  • Eicosanoids / metabolism
  • Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
  • Epoxy Compounds / pharmacology
  • Fatty Acids / chemistry
  • Fatty Acids / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Metabolic Networks and Pathways
  • Mitochondria / metabolism
  • Models, Biological
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • Transcriptome

Substances

  • Eicosanoids
  • Epoxy Compounds
  • Fatty Acids
  • Docosahexaenoic Acids
  • Arachidonic Acid
  • etomoxir

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme FP7 (METAFLUX-Marie Curie FP7-PEOPLE-2010 ITN-264780); the Spanish Government and the European Union FEDER funds (SAF2014-56059-R, SAF2015-70270-REDT and SAF2015-66984-C2-1-R); Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR (2014SGR1017, xarxa de referència en biotecnologia, (TMT) and the support received through the prize “ICREA Academia” for excellence in research (MC), the Lendület Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BP) and the Welcome Trust (BP). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.