Zhan C, Shi Y, Lu C, Wang Q
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Dis Esophagus. 2013 Sep-Oct;26(7):746-53. doi: 10.1111/dote.12023. Epub 2013 Jan 14.
It's frequently stated that the pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) and Warburg effect are important for cancer development by accumulating more raw materials for macromolecule biosynthesis. However, the correlation between PKM2 and cancer is poorly reported. Here, we investigated the PKM2 expression in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC). We observed that the expression of PKM2 was much higher in ESCC than in control normal tissue, and it is highly associated with many clinical features and prognosis. Specially, we found that the expression of PKM2 was closely related to the differentiation state of ESCC, and we further confirmed this discovery in vitro. As a result, out data indicated that PKM2 might be a useful indicator for determining the survival of patients with ESCC. Considering previous researches on the link among PKM2, Warburg effect, and differentiation, our study inferred the direct roles of PKM2 and Warburg effect in the differentiation of cancer cells rather than only providing synthetic intermediates for the promotion of cancer's progression.
人们常说，丙酮酸激酶M2（PKM2）和瓦伯格效应通过积累更多用于大分子生物合成的原材料，对癌症发展至关重要。然而，关于PKM2与癌症之间的相关性报道较少。在此，我们研究了食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）中PKM2的表达情况。我们观察到，PKM2在ESCC中的表达远高于对照正常组织，并且与许多临床特征和预后高度相关。特别地，我们发现PKM2的表达与ESCC的分化状态密切相关，并且我们在体外进一步证实了这一发现。因此，我们的数据表明PKM2可能是确定ESCC患者生存情况的一个有用指标。考虑到先前关于PKM2、瓦伯格效应和分化之间联系的研究，我们的研究推断PKM2和瓦伯格效应在癌细胞分化中具有直接作用，而不仅仅是为癌症进展提供合成中间体。
