Chaperone-mediated autophagy promotes breast cancer angiogenesis via regulation of aerobic glycolysis.

Evidence shows that chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is involved in cancer cell pathogenesis and progression. However, the potential role of CMA in breast cancer angiogenesis remains unknown. We first manipulated CMA activity by knockdown and overexpressing of lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2A (LAMP2A) in MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-436, T47D and MCF7 cells. We found that the tube formation, migration and proliferation abilities of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were inhibited after cocultured with tumor-conditioned medium from breast cancer cells of LAMP2A knockdown. While the above changes were promoted after cocultured with tumor-conditioned medium from breast cancer cells of LAMP2A overexpression. Moreover, we found that CMA could promote VEGFA expression in breast cancer cells and in xenograft model through upregulating lactate production. Finally, we found that lactate regulation in breast cancer cells is hexokinase 2 (HK2) dependent, and knockdown of HK2 can significantly reduce the ability of CMA-mediated tube formation capacity of HUVECs. Collectively, these results indicate that CMA could promote breast cancer angiogenesis via regulation of HK2-dependent aerobic glycolysis, which may serve as an attractive target for breast cancer therapies.