The supramolecular organization of cancer metabolism: From macromolecular crowding to metabolic reprogramming underlying cancer metastasis and drug resistance

dc.contributor
Universitat de Barcelona. Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l'Alimentació
dc.contributor.author
Balcells Nadal, Cristina
dc.date.accessioned
2020-01-21T12:10:49Z
dc.date.available
2020-12-18T01:00:20Z
dc.date.issued
2019-12-19
dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668321
dc.description
Programa de Doctorat en Biotecnologia
en_US
dc.description.abstract
Metastasis and drug resistance represent the two main causes of therapeutic failure in oncology. In the present dissertation, the interplay between them has been interrogated using metabolomics, systems biology and biophysical approaches, in an attempt to find common phenotypic adaptations and metabolic vulnerabilities of metastatic and resistant cancer cells, potentially exploitable in novel combination therapies. The obtained results unveil that highly metastatic e-CSC phenotypes of CRPC present particular metabolic vulnerabilities that can potentially lead to establishing putative biomarkers and metabolic targets that are specific for PCa subsets with high tumorigenic potential. Moreover, by generating isogenic cell models of multiplatinum resistance in CRPC and CRC we also identified that metastatic solid tumors with originally opposed metabolic profiles can lead to different metabolic adaptations as they acquire platinum resistance, but that a common metabolic signature of acquired platinum resistance arises, which also includes alterations in proline and one carbon metabolism, glutathione synthesis and ROS production. In addition to characterizing in deep the metabolic reprogramming associated to resistance to platinum compounds already used in the clinics, we also explored the possibility to design of novel platinum drugs able to counter platinum-resistant tumors. In this regard, we identified novel families of cyclometallated platinum (II) and platinum (IV) compounds exhibit strong antiproliferative effects in the low micromolar range against a wide variety of solid tumors. The leading compounds of each series also exhibit remarkable selectivity for cancer cells and the capacity to arrest the cell cycle at S and G2/M phases, induce apoptosis and increase intracellular ROS levels. The multiple combinations of equatorial and axial ligands explored in this work, allowed us to conclude that octahedral Pt (IV) compounds containing tridentate [C,N,N’] ligands are the optimal design to improve efficacy and selectivity against cancer cell lines. Remarkably, we have also identified that these novel cyclometallated Pt (IV) exhibit a complete absence of cross-resistance with the platinum-resistant CRC and CRPC models generated in this work. Indeed, platinum-based chemotherapy can severely affect internal cell architecture, causing fluctuations in the levels of macromolecular crowding inside cells and having an impact on the supramolecular organization of cell metabolism. In turn, this has been proved to have a profound impact on the kinetic behavior of metabolic enzymes that govern the rate of metabolic pathways that we have identified as important throughout this work. Thus, we have explored the kinetic behavior of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), as a representative of aerobic glycolysis, under the presence of globular obstacles that do not introduce specific interactions with either LDH or its substrates, dextran polymers, obtaining that LDH kinetics is impaired in an obstacle size- and concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, we unveiled that LDH kinetic behavior shifts from activation control to diffusion control as crowding increases, implying that the behavior of LDH inside cells could be significantly different than previous dilute solution kinetic studies of this enzyme had predicted. On the other hand, the effect of macromolecular crowding on glutaminolysis had not been explored prior to this work. By studying the kinetic behavior of glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) in crowded media and characterizing its negative cooperativity, we have concluded that its kinetics is impaired by crowding in an obstacle size- and concentration-dependent manner, but that negative cooperativity is not significantly altered by macromolecular crowding. The actual impact of macromolecular crowding on cell metabolism has been scarcely explored and we are just scratching the surface of the understanding of the multiple implications that this phenomenon may entail for cell physiology and, in particular, for the metabolic alterations of cancer cells. Our observations throughout this work will hopefully have contributed to set grounds onto this enthralling enterprise, as long as meaningfully contributed to encounter valuable therapeutic tools against metastatic CRPC and CRC that can circumvent platinum resistance, both with new generations of platinum compounds and novel metabolic targets that selectively target metastatic solid tumors.
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dc.format.extent
348 p.
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dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
en_US
dc.publisher
Universitat de Barcelona
dc.rights.license
ADVERTIMENT. L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi doctoral i la seva utilització ha de respectar els drets de la persona autora. Pot ser utilitzada per a consulta o estudi personal, així com en activitats o materials d'investigació i docència en els termes establerts a l'art. 32 del Text Refós de la Llei de Propietat Intel·lectual (RDL 1/1996). Per altres utilitzacions es requereix l'autorització prèvia i expressa de la persona autora. En qualsevol cas, en la utilització dels seus continguts caldrà indicar de forma clara el nom i cognoms de la persona autora i el títol de la tesi doctoral. No s'autoritza la seva reproducció o altres formes d'explotació efectuades amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva comunicació pública des d'un lloc aliè al servei TDX. Tampoc s'autoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a TDX (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant als continguts de la tesi com als seus resums i índexs.
dc.source
TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)
dc.subject
Oncologia
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dc.subject
Oncología
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dc.subject
Oncology
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Càncer
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dc.subject
Cáncer
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dc.subject
Cancer
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dc.subject
Resistència als medicaments
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dc.subject
Resistencia a los medicamentos
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dc.subject
Drug resistance
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dc.subject
Platí
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dc.subject
Platino
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dc.subject
Platinum
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dc.subject.other
Ciències de la Salut
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dc.title
The supramolecular organization of cancer metabolism: From macromolecular crowding to metabolic reprogramming underlying cancer metastasis and drug resistance
en_US
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.subject.udc
577
en_US
dc.contributor.director
Mas i Pujadas, Francesc
dc.contributor.director
Cascante i Serratosa, Marta
dc.contributor.tutor
Badía Palacín, Josefa
dc.embargo.terms
12 mesos
en_US
dc.rights.accessLevel
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess


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