TY - THES A1 - Pfetzer, Nadja T1 - Identifizierung und Testung spezifischer Inhibitoren des Energiestoffwechsels von Tumorzellen T1 - Identification and testing of specific inhibitors of metabolism in tumour cells N2 - Charakteristisch für viele maligne Tumorzellen ist eine erhöhte Aufnahme von Glucose und die Bildung großer Mengen Milchsäure auch in Anwesenheit von Sauerstoff (Warburg Effekt) und eine verminderte Nutzung des Zitratzyklus. Als Grund werden Defekte in der mitochondrialen Atmungskette diskutiert. Aber auch eine durch Onkogene gesteigerte Glykolyserate, könnte ursächlich sein. Ein weiterer für Tumorzellen wichtiger Stoffwechselweg, in dem Glucose abgebaut wird, ist der Pentosephosphatweg, dessen Blockade das Wachstum der Krebszellen hemmen könnte. Zudem stellt die Manipulation derjenigen Signalwege, die in den Tumorstoffwechsel involviert und in Tumorzellen überaktiviert (Ras/PI3K/Akt/mTOR- und Raf/MEK/ERK-Signalweg) oder unterdrückt (oxidative Phosphorylierung) sind, mögliche Ansatzpunkte dar. In dieser Arbeit wurde daher in vitro die Wirkung von 15 Substanzen an drei verschiedenen Tumorzelllinien und vier verschiedenen benignen Zellen untersucht, welche in die oben genannten charakteristischen Stoffwechselwege von Tumorzellen eingreifen und gegenwärtig intensiv als mögliche Tumortherapeutika diskutiert werden. Ziel war es, geeignete Kandidaten für eine zielgerichtete Therapie zu identifizieren. Der Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit war die Beeinflussung des Glucosestoffwechsels in Tumorzellen. Da Glucose sowohl aerob als auch anaerob verstoffwechselt werden kann, wurden in einem ersten Ansatz zum einen Substanzen gestestet, die die Glykolyse auf verschiedenen Ebenen hemmen, zum anderen wurden Substanzen untersucht, die den mitochondrialen Stoffwechsel beeinflussen. Die Wirkung aller 15 Substanzen wurde zunächst jeweils als Einzelbehandlung getestet. Hierbei führten nur sehr hohe Konzentrationen in Tumorzellen zu einem drastisch verminderten ATP-Gehalt, die für benigne Zellen aber ebenfalls toxisch waren. Daher wurde in einem zweiten Schritt untersucht, ob durch die gleichzeitige Manipulation des Glucosestoffwechsels und des mitochondrialen Stoffwechsels mit jeweils subtoxischen Konzentrationen eine tumorselektive Wirkung erreicht werden kann. Bei der Kombination der Substanzen Oxythiamin/NaDCA bzw. 2-DG/Rotenon ergaben sich zwar synergistische Effekte auf die Verminderung des ATP-Gehaltes in den getesteten Tumorzellen, eine generelle tumorselektive Wirkung konnte jedoch durch die kombinierte Behandlung nicht erreicht werden. In jüngster Zeit mehren sich die Hinweise, dass die Glutaminolyse einen sehr wichtigen Stoffwechselweg für Energiegewinnung und Syntheseprozesse von Tumorzellen darstellt. Deshalb wurde in einem dritten Schritt untersucht, ob durch die Hemmung der Glutaminolyse mit der Substanz 6-Diazo-5-oxo-L-norleuzin (DON) eine tumorspezifische Wirkung erreicht werden kann. In der Tat konnte durch DON eine andeutungsweise tumorselektive Wirkung auf den ATP-Gehalt der Zellen erzielt werden, jedoch war das therapeutische Fenster sehr eng. Durch die Hemmung der oxidativen Phosphorylierung wurde in allen drei untersuchten Tumorzelllinien eine gesteigerte Milchsäureproduktion nachgewiesen. Dies ist ein eindeutiger Hinweis dafür, dass in diesen Tumorzellen die Mitochondrien keine Defekte aufweisen. Die hier untersuchten benignen und malignen Zellen wurden hinsichtlich des Glucosestoffwechsels mit verschiedenen Methoden näher charakterisiert, um zu beurteilen, ob sich die Zellen in ihrem Stoffwechselphänotyp unterscheiden. Bei der Quantifizierung der Glucoseaufnahme wurde deutlich, dass auch manche benigne Zellen deutliche Mengen an Glucose aufnehmen, welche allerdings nur der Tumorzelllinie mit der niedrigsten Aufnahme glich. Mittels immunhistochemischer Färbungen wurden charakteristische Proteine des Zuckerstoffwechsels dargestellt. Zudem wurde die Expression von zentralen Genen des Stoffwechsels auf mRNA- bzw. Proteinebene untersucht. Hierbei wurde deutlich, dass sowohl Tumorzellen als auch manche benigne Zellen für die Glykolyse typische Proteine bzw. mRNA stark exprimieren. Fazit der Charakterisierung ist, dass es zwischen den hier verwendeten malignen und benignen Zellen keine eindeutige Differenzierung aufgrund des Stoffwechselprofils gibt, sondern sich die getesteten Zellen nur graduell unterscheiden. Dieses Ergebnis erklärt möglicherweise die geringe Tumorspezifität der getesteten Substanzen. Im Vergleich mit den vielversprechenden Ergebnissen aus der Literatur zeigten die hier gewonnenen in vitro-Daten eindeutig, dass die Wirkung von potenziell tumorhemmenden Substanzen je nach Tumorzelltyp extrem verschieden war. Dies beruht darauf, dass der vorherrschende Stoffwechseltyp (oxidativ bzw. glykolytisch) für jede Tumorentität verschieden ist. Daher muss vermutlich für jede Tumorentität bzw. sogar für jeden Patienten individuell die Wirkung und der Nutzen einer Hemmung des Tumorstoffwechsels untersucht werden, bevor künftig an eine zielgerichtete Therapie gedacht werden kann. N2 - A characteristic feature of aggressive tumour cells is a high uptake of glucose and enhanced lactic acid production even in the presence of oxygen (aerobic glycolysis, “Warburg effect”) with a reduced use of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Defects in mitochondrial function and oncogene activation are supposed to contribute to increased glycolysis, that is not subjected to the Pasteur effect (reduced rate of glycolysis in the presence of oxygen). The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is an important metabolic pathway in cancer cells, supplying building blocks for nucleotide synthesis and NADPH for proper redox control. Hence, inhibition of the PPP might block tumour cell growth. Perturbation of signalling pathways that are involved in tumour cell metabolism and are hyperactivated (Ras/PI3K/Akt/mTOR- and Raf/MEK/ERK-pathway) or suppressed (oxidative phosphorylation, p53) in cancer cells are possible targets for anticancer drugs. Thus, in this work the effect of 15 substances highly discussed as potential anticancer agents which influence the aforementioned metabolic and signalling pathways was evaluated in vitro on three different tumour cells lines [two breast cancer cells lines with different metastatic phenotype (MDA-MB 231 and 468) and one gastric cancer cell line (23132/87)] and four normal cell types [endometrial fibroblasts, endothelial cells (HUVEC), peripheral blood leukocytes and skin keratinocytes]. Aim of the study was to identify suitable candidates for targeted therapies. ATP-level was measured as readout to determine the efficacy of the substances, because the ATP content of cells correlates well with cell viability. The main focus of this work was to selectively modulate the glucose metabolism of cancer cells. Because glucose can be metabolized aerobically and anaerobically, we first tested substances that inhibit glycolysis at different steps and substances that interfere with mitochondrial metabolism. All of the 15 substances were tested as single treatment. Here, only very high concentrations of the respective substance significantly decreased ATP-levels in cancer cells - but to a much greater extend in normal cells. Therefore, in the next step we determined if impairing glucose and mitochondrial metabolism simultaneously with less toxic drug concentrations would be more specific in targeting cancer cells. Although synergistic effects were observed by co-treatment with oyxthiamine/NaDCA and 2-DG/rotenone respectively on reducing ATP-levels, this effect was not selective for tumour cells too. Recently, evidence is coming up that glutaminolysis (degradation of glutamine) is an important metabolic pathway for cancer cells providing energy substrates and building blocks. Thus, we examined if a tumour-specific effect could be achieved by inhibition of glutaminolysis with 6-Diazo-5-oxo-L-norleuzin (DON). Actually, other than the substances interfering with glucose metabolism, DON showed a tumour-specific effect to some extent, although the therapeutical range was very small. Inhibition of oxidative mitochondrial metabolism with the substances rotenone, oligomycin, 2,4-dinitrophenol and rhodamine 123 increased lactic acid production in all three cancer cell lines. Thus, it was possible to impede oxidative phosphorylation and to force the cells to increase glycolysis, indicating that mitochondria had no defects. To determine if tumour cells and normal cells differ in regard of their metabolic phenotype, the cells were analyzed for parameters concerning glucose metabolism with different methods. Quantifying glucose uptake of the cells revealed that some normal cells (fibroblasts, T-cells) take up significant amounts of glucose that are similar to those of cancer cells (MDA-MB 231) which showed the lowest glucose uptake among the three tumour cell lines tested. Characteristic proteins of glucose metabolism were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. Furthermore expression patterns of crucial genes involved in glucose metabolism were analyzed on mRNA and protein level. Thereby, it became obvious that both tumour cells as well as normal cells have very similar expression patterns regarding these typical genes. In conclusion, the characterization of tumour and normal cells did not show any substantial but rather gradual differences concerning the metabolic phenotype. These results might explain the marginal tumour specific effect of the drugs tested herein Compared to the promising results from the literature our in vitro data clearly show that the effect of potential anticancer drugs is extremely different for several tumour cell types. This might be due to the predominant metabolic phenotype (oxidative or glycolytic) of different tumour entities. Thus, we suppose that inhibition of tumour cell metabolism has to be evaluated for every single cancer cell type or even every cancer patient on regard of effect and benefit for implementation of selective cancer pharmacotherapy. KW - Tumorzelle KW - Glykolyse KW - Inhibitor KW - Warburgeffekt KW - Stoffwechsel KW - Tumor KW - glycolysis KW - metabolism KW - tumour KW - glucose KW - Warburg effect Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-65406 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Melanie A1 - Pfetzer, Nadja A1 - Schwab, Micheal A1 - Strauss, Ingrid A1 - Kaemmerer, Ulrike T1 - Effects of a ketogenic diet on the quality of life in 16 patients with advanced cancer: a pilot train N2 - Background: Tumor patients exhibit an increased peripheral demand of fatty acids and protein. Contrarily, tumors utilize glucose as their main source of energy supply. Thus, a diet supplying the cancer patient with sufficient fat and protein for his demands while restricting the carbohydrates (CHO) tumors thrive on, could be a helpful strategy in improving the patients’ situation. A ketogenic diet (KD) fulfills these requirements. Therefore, we performed a pilot study to investigate the feasibility of a KD and its influence on the quality of life of patients with advanced metastatic tumors. Methods: Sixteen patients with advanced metastatic tumors and no conventional therapeutic options participated in the study. The patients were instructed to follow a KD (less than 70 g CHO per day) with normal groceries and were provided with a supply of food additives to mix a protein/fat shake to simplify the 3-month intervention period. Quality of life [assessed by EORTC QLQ-C30 (version 2)], serum and general health parameters were determined at baseline, after every two weeks of follow-up, or after drop out. The effect of dietary change on metabolism was monitored daily by measuring urinary ketone bodies. Results: One patient did not tolerate the diet and dropped out within 3 days. Among those who tolerated the diet, two patients died early, one stopped after 2 weeks due to personal reasons, one felt unable to stick to the diet after 4 weeks, one stopped after 6 and two stopped after 7 and 8 weeks due to progress of the disease, one had to discontinue after 6 weeks to resume chemotherapy and five completed the 3 month intervention period. These five and the one who resumed chemotherapy after 6 weeks report an improved emotional functioning and less insomnia, while several other parameters of quality of life remained stable or worsened, reflecting their very advanced disease. Except for temporary constipation and fatigue, we found no severe adverse side effects, especially no changes in cholesterol or blood lipids. Conclusions: These pilot data suggest that a KD is suitable for even advanced cancer patients. It has no severe side effects and might improve aspects of quality of life and blood parameters in some patients with advanced metastatic tumors. KW - Lebensqualität KW - Krebskranker KW - Ketogenic diet KW - cancer patients KW - pilot study KW - quality of life Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68871 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kämmerer, Ulrike A1 - Gires, Olivier A1 - Pfetzer, Nadja A1 - Wiegering, Armin A1 - Klement, Rainer Johannes A1 - Otto, Christoph T1 - TKTL1 expression in human malign and benign cell lines JF - BMC Cancer N2 - Background Overexpression of transketolase-like 1 protein TKTL1 in cancer cells has been reported to correlate with enhanced glycolysis and lactic acid production. Furthermore, enhanced TKTL1 expression was put into context with resistance to chemotherapy and ionizing radiation. Here, a panel of human malign and benign cells, which cover a broad range of chemotherapy and radiation resistance as well as reliance on glucose metabolism, was analyzed in vitro for TKTL1 expression. Methods 17 malign and three benign cell lines were characterized according to their expression of TKTL1 on the protein level with three commercially available anti-TKTL1 antibodies utilizing immunohistochemistry and Western blot, as well as on mRNA level with three published primer pairs for RT-qPCR. Furthermore, sensitivities to paclitaxel, cisplatin and ionizing radiation were assessed in cell survival assays. Glucose consumption and lactate production were quantified as surrogates for the “Warburg effect”. Results Considerable amounts of tktl1 mRNA and TKTL1 protein were detected only upon stable transfection of the human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293 with an expression plasmid for human TKTL1. Beyond that, weak expression of endogenous tktl1 mRNA was measured in the cell lines JAR and U251. Western blot analysis of JAR and U251 cells did not detect TKTL1 at the expected size of 65 kDa with all three antibodies specific for TKTL1 protein and immunohistochemical staining was observed with antibody JFC12T10 only. All other cell lines tested here revealed expression of tktl1 mRNA below detection limits and were negative for TKTL1 protein. However, in all cell lines including TKTL1-negative HEK293-control cells, antibody JFC12T10 detected multiple proteins with different molecular weights. Importantly, JAR and U251 did neither demonstrate an outstanding production of lactic acid nor increased resistance against chemotherapeutics or to ionizing radiation, respectively. Conclusion Using RT-qPCR and three different antibodies we observed only exceptional occurrence of TKTL1 in a panel of malignant human cell lines in vitro. The presence of TKTL1 was unrelated to either the rate of glucose consumption/lactic acid production or resistance against chemo- and radiotherapy. KW - RT-qPCT KW - immunohistochemistry KW - TKTL1 KW - cancer cell lines Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-126397 VL - 15 IS - 2 ER -