Cited by 830Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismMetabolism, Diabetes, and CancerBiochemical and Molecular Research

Pyruvate kinase M2 activators promote tetramer formation and suppress tumorigenesis

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Anastasiou, Dimitrios, Yu, Yimin, Israelsen, William J, Jiang, Jian-Kang, Boxer, Matthew B, Hong, Bum Soo, Tempel, Wolfram, Dimov, Svetoslav +35 more·2012·Nature Chemical Biology

Abstract

Cancer cells engage in a metabolic program to enhance biosynthesis and support cell proliferation. The regulatory properties of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) influence altered glucose metabolism in cancer. The interaction of PKM2 with phosphotyrosine-containing proteins inhibits enzyme activity and increases the availability of glycolytic metabolites to support cell proliferation. This suggests that high pyruvate kinase activity may suppress tumor growth. We show that expression of PKM1, the pyruvate kinase isoform with high constitutive activity, or exposure to published small-molecule PKM2 activators inhibits the growth of xenograft tumors. Structural studies reveal that small-molecule activators bind PKM2 at the subunit interaction interface, a site that is distinct from that of the endogenous activator fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP). However, unlike FBP, binding of activators to PKM2 promotes a constitutively active enzyme state that is resistant to inhibition by tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins. These data support the notion that small-molecule activation of PKM2 can interfere with anabolic metabolism.

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Crossref · 10.1038/nchembio.1060

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  • Activation of pyruvate kinase can inhibit cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth in some settings.

    “Indeed, activation of pyruvate kinase can inhibit cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth in some settings (Anastasiou et al., 2012; Kung et al., 2012; Walsh et al., 2010), but because pyruvate kinase expression is dispensable for the growth of some tumors (Cortes-Cros et al., 2013; Israelsen et al., 2013), whether pyruvate kinase activation will lead to durable responses remains an area of”

    From Targeting Metabolism for Cancer Therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Anastasiou et al., 2012

  • Activating PKM2 with small-molecule agonists increases PEP-to-pyruvate conversion, reduces flux of glycolytic intermediates toward anabolic pathways, and slows tumor cell growth.

    “Activating PKM2 by using small-molecule agonists increases PEP-to-pyruvate conversion, reducing the flux of glycolytic intermediates toward anabolic pathways and slowing tumor cell growth (56, 60).”
  • PKM2 exists as inactive dimer or active tetramer, and oscillation between these states influences ability of cells to maintain anabolic metabolism.

    “PKM2 exists as either an inactive dimer or an active tetramer, and oscillation between these two states influences the ability of cells to maintain anabolic metabolism (56).”
  • TEPP-46 and DASA-58 are highly specific small-molecule PKM2 activators that promote active PKM2 tetramers, boost PKM2 enzymatic activity, and limit tumor growth in vivo.

    “In order to examine the functional relevance of PKM2 for LPS action we next examined the effect of two highly specific small-molecule PKM2 activators, TEPP-46 and DASA-58.”
  • TEPP-46, but not DASA-58, is pharmacokinetically validated in vivo.

    “TEPP-46, but not DASA-58, is pharmacokinetically validated in vivo (Anastasiou et al., 2012).”

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Authors
Anastasiou, D., Yu, Y., Israelsen, W. J., Jiang, J.-K., Boxer, M. B., Hong, B. S., Tempel, W., Dimov, S., Shen, M., Jha, A., Yang, H., Mattaini, K. R., Metallo, C. M., Fiske, B. P., Courtney, K. D., Malstrom, S., Khan, T. M., Kung, C., Skoumbourdis, A. P., Veith, H., Southall, N., Walsh, M. J., Brimacombe, K. R., Leister, W., Lunt, S. Y., Johnson, Z. R., Yen, K. E., Kunii, K., Davidson, S. M., Christofk, H. R., Austin, C. P., Inglese, J., Harris, M. H., Asara, J. M., Stephanopoulos, G., Salituro, F. G., Jin, S., Dang, L., Auld, D. S., Park, H.-W., Cantley, L. C., Thomas, C. J., & Vander Heiden, M. G.
Affiliations
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • Agios Pharmaceuticals (United States) (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
Venue
Nature Chemical Biology
Published
2012-08-26
Volume
8
Issue
10
Pages
839-847
ISSN
  • 1552-4450 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-4469
OpenAlex
W2125836344
Cited by
816
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 76 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 53 · 2015: 55 · 2014: 55 · 2013: 45 · 2012: 9
FWCI
17.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2012-11-26)
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Chemical Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • University of Chicago
  • Genome Canada
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R03MH085679)
  • National Cancer Institute (5P30CA1405141, R01CA160458, P01CA120964, P30CA006516)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01 GM56203, R01GM056203)
  • Biological and Environmental Research
  • Argonne National Laboratory
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Biochemical and Molecular Research
Keywords
PKM2, tetramerization, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, small molecule activators, PKM1, tumor growth inhibition, tumor xenografts, cancer metabolism, glucose metabolism, tyrosine phosphorylation, anabolic metabolism, enzyme activation
MeSH terms
Animals, Biopolymers, Cell Transformation, Neoplastic, Humans, Neoplasms, Pyruvate Kinase, Blotting, Western, Enzyme Activators, Cell Proliferation, Mice

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