Amemiya Takashi, Yamaguchi Tomohiko
Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University (YNU), Yokohama, Japan.
Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences (MIMS), Nakano, Japan.
Front Oncol. 2022 Feb 16;12:783908. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.783908. eCollection 2022.
The grade of malignancy differs among cancer cell types, yet it remains the burden of genetic studies to understand the reasons behind this observation. Metabolic studies of cancer, based on the Warburg effect or aerobic glycolysis, have also not provided any clarity. Instead, the significance of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) has been found to play critical roles in aggressive cancer cells. In this perspective, metabolic symbiosis is addressed as one of the ultimate causes of the grade of cancer malignancy. Metabolic symbiosis gives rise to metabolic heterogeneities which enable cancer cells to acquire greater opportunities for proliferation and metastasis in tumor microenvironments. This study introduces a real-time new imaging technique to visualize metabolic symbiosis between cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and cancer cells based on the metabolic oscillations in these cells. The causality of cellular oscillations in cancer cells and CAFs, connected through lactate transport, is a key point for the development of this novel technique.
不同癌细胞类型的恶性程度各不相同，但理解这一现象背后的原因仍是基因研究的重任。基于瓦伯格效应或有氧糖酵解的癌症代谢研究，也未能提供任何清晰的解释。相反，人们发现氧化磷酸化（OXPHOS）在侵袭性癌细胞中发挥着关键作用。从这个角度来看，代谢共生被认为是癌症恶性程度的最终原因之一。代谢共生会导致代谢异质性，使癌细胞能够在肿瘤微环境中获得更多增殖和转移的机会。本研究引入了一种实时新成像技术，基于这些细胞中的代谢振荡来可视化癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAF）与癌细胞之间的代谢共生。癌细胞和CAF中通过乳酸转运相连的细胞振荡的因果关系，是这项新技术发展的关键所在。
