Cited by 692Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismAmino Acid Enzymes and MetabolismPI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancer

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 72 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 18 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Deficiency in glutamine but not glucose induces MYC-dependent apoptosis in human cells

Open access

Abstract

The idea that conversion of glucose to ATP is an attractive target for cancer therapy has been supported in part by the observation that glucose deprivation induces apoptosis in rodent cells transduced with the proto-oncogene MYC, but not in the parental line. Here, we found that depletion of glucose killed normal human cells irrespective of induced MYC activity and by a mechanism different from apoptosis. However, depletion of glutamine, another major nutrient consumed by cancer cells, induced apoptosis depending on MYC activity. This apoptosis was preceded by depletion of the Krebs cycle intermediates, was prevented by two Krebs cycle substrates, but was unrelated to ATP synthesis or several other reported consequences of glutamine starvation. Our results suggest that the fate of normal human cells should be considered in evaluating nutrient deprivation as a strategy for cancer therapy, and that understanding how glutamine metabolism is linked to cell viability might provide new approaches for treatment of cancer.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

In human cells, glucose deprivation killed normal fibroblasts independently of MYC and not by apoptosis, whereas glutamine deprivation induced MYC-dependent apoptosis. The glutamine-dependent death was linked to depletion of Krebs cycle intermediates and was prevented by pyruvate or oxaloacetate, but not by ATP, glutathione, DNA damage, protein synthesis, or mTOR mechanisms.

Key findings

  • Glucose depletion killed IER-MYC human fibroblasts irrespective of ERTM-MYC activity; 0.5 mM glucose (2% of normal) killed more slowly but also independently of MYC. Death was not apoptosis, as shown by absence of chromatin condensation and failure of Bcl-2 to prevent death.
  • Glutamine depletion killed IER-MYC cells faster when ERTM-MYC was active; IER control cells remained viable without glutamine regardless of OHT. Death was apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway: Bcl-2 and caspase-9 dominant-negative prevented death, while crmA had no effect.
  • Apoptosis after glutamine depletion was not caused by ATP deficiency, glutathione deficiency, DNA damage, protein synthesis deficiency, mTOR inhibition, or cell cycle arrest. Glutamine deprivation depleted Krebs cycle intermediates except citrate and isocitrate; pyruvate or oxaloacetate completely prevented apoptosis but did not restore proliferation, and the NADH/NAD ratio remained unchanged.
  • Nutrient requirements varied by cell type: HFF-ER-MYC reacted like IER-MYC; HA1E cells underwent apoptosis after glucose depletion and reacted to glutamine depletion like IER-MYC; RPE-hTERT cells survived without glutamine irrespective of ectopic MYC and died without glucose independently of MYC by a non-apoptotic mechanism.

Methods

  • Normal human fibroblasts IMR90 were retrovirally transduced with ERTM-MYC (IER-MYC) or ERTM alone (IER); HFF, HA1E, and RPE-hTERT cells were also tested. ERTM-MYC was activated with 200 nM 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT), with ethanol as vehicle.
  • Nutrient depletion used glucose-free or glutamine-free DMEM; standard concentrations were 10 mM glucose and 2 mM glutamine. Viability and apoptosis were assessed by annexin V/PI, Hoechst 33342 nuclear morphology, Trypan Blue, and immunoblotting/immunofluorescence.
  • Metabolite and viability analyses included ATP by luciferin-luciferase, reduced glutathione by flow cytometry, NADH/NAD by enzymatic cycling, lactate by LDH reaction, and capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE-MS) for metabolite profiling. Results are presented as averages of independent experiments with SDs where indicated.

Limitations

  • Stated: how abnormal MYC synergizes with glutamine depletion to induce apoptosis remains to be determined; the authors cannot exclude a combination of tested mechanisms or an unknown glutamine function. Mitochondrial NADH/NAD+ and FADH/FAD+ ratios were not measured.
  • Stated: the effect of nutrient depletion varied across cell types, so conclusions may be difficult to extrapolate from one or a few experimental systems.
  • Evident: the study relies on ectopically expressed inducible ERTM-MYC in cultured human cell lines rather than endogenous MYC or in vivo tumor models; several supporting observations are described as unpublished or are based on two independent experiments.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1083/jcb.200703099

Cites

72 of 72 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 18 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 33 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 11
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 15
25 of 25
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Metabolism can vary among species.

    “Considering that metabolism can vary among species, and that human rather than animal tumors are of primary interest, we used human cells.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Glutamine is made by cells, making the requirement for exogenous glutamine appear unnecessary.

    “However, glutamine is made by cells, which makes the requirement for exogenous glutamine appear unnecessary.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Oxaloacetate is a membrane-permeable Krebs cycle intermediate and pyruvate can enter the Krebs cycle by converting into acetyl-CoA or oxaloacetate.

    “oxaloacetate, which is a membrane-permeable Krebs cycle intermediate, or pyruvate, which can enter the cycle by converting into acetyl-CoA or oxaloacetate, completely prevented apoptosis in the absence of glutamine (Fig. 8, A and B).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Why glutamine is required for cell viability is not entirely clear.

    “Surprisingly, why glutamine is required for cell viability, or, in other words, why depletion of glutamine would kill cells, is not entirely clear.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    p53 is mutated in many cancers.

    “which is an advantage as this protein is mutated in many cancers”
5 of 5

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • MYC-associated DNA damage is both reported and denied

    Major

    The Discussion says no increase in DNA damage was detected after ERTM-MYC activation, but the Results say ERTM-MYC activation induced phosphorylation of H2AX, which the paper uses as a DNA-damage reporter.

  • CrmA result cites a nonexistent Figure 3 panel

    Minor

    The text cites Figure 3 D for the CrmA result, but the Figure 3 caption identifies the CrmA experiment as panel C and lists no panel D.

  • Figure 6 C refers to a schematic as its treatment protocol

    Minor

    The caption says the cells in panel C were treated as in panel A, but panel A is a biosynthesis diagram. The treatment conditions are described in panel B.

3 of 3

Citations

Cites

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Show all 72 references

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. 1969, Cancer Res., 29, 669
  2. 1969, Cancer Res., 29, 1195
  3. 1985, Eur. J. Cell Biol., 36, 176
  4. 2004, Anticancer Res., 24, 1121
  5. 2003, Cancer Res., 63, 7330
  6. 1984, Fed. Proc., 43, 121

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Metadata

Authors
Yuneva, M., Zamboni, N., Oefner, P., Sachidanandam, R., & Lazebnik, Y.
Affiliations
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • ETH Zurich (CH)
  • University of Regensburg (DE)
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (US)
Corresponding author
Lazebnik, Yuri
Venue
The Journal of Cell Biology
Published
2007-07-02
Volume
178
Issue
1
Pages
93-105
ISSN
  • 0021-9525 (ISSN-L)
  • 1540-8140
OpenAlex
W2112861594
Cited by
690
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 46 · 2012: 42
FWCI
7.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-sa
Locations
  • The Journal of Cell Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Institutional Repository (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Cancer Institute (CA-13106-31, P01CA013106)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cancer
Keywords
glutamine deprivation, glucose deprivation, c-Myc, apoptosis, Krebs cycle intermediates, nutrient deprivation, cancer therapy, glutamine metabolism, cell viability, glucose metabolism
MeSH terms
Proto-Oncogene Mas, Cell Line, Cells, Cultured, Fibroblasts, Gene Expression Regulation, Glucose, Glutamine, Humans, Lung, Male, Retroviridae, Skin, Transduction, Genetic, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc, Apoptosis, Cell Culture Techniques

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