B7-H3 promotes aerobic glycolysis and chemoresistance in colorectal cancer cells by regulating HK2.

Accumulating evidence suggests that aerobic glycolysis is important for colorectal cancer (CRC) development. However, the underlying mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. B7-H3, an immunoregulatory protein, is broadly overexpressed by multiple tumor types and plays a vital role in tumor progression. In this study, we found that overexpression of B7-H3 effectively increased the rate of glucose consumption and lactate production, whereas knockdown of B7-H3 had the opposite effect. Furthermore, we showed that B7-H3 increased glucose consumption and lactate production by promoting hexokinase 2 (HK2) expression in CRC cells, and we also found that HK2 was a key mediator of B7-H3-induced CRC chemoresistance. Depletion of HK2 expression or treating cells with HK2 inhibitors could reverse the B7-H3-induced increase in aerobic glycolysis and B7-H3-endowed chemoresistance of cancer cells. Moreover, we verified a positive correlation between the expression of B7-H3 and HK2 in tumor tissues of CRC patients. Collectively, our findings suggest that B7-H3 may be a novel regulator of glucose metabolism and chemoresistance via controlling HK2 expression in CRC cells, a result that could help develop B7-H3 as a promising therapeutic target for CRC treatment.