The Mechanism of Adaptation of Breast Cancer Cells to Hypoxia: Role of AMPK/mTOR Signaling Pathway

• Published in: Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine Vol. 160; no. 4; pp. 555 - 559
• Main Authors: Sorokin, D. V., Scherbakov, A. M., Yakushina, I. A., Semina, S. E., Gudkova, M. V., Krasil’nikov, M. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - physiology; AMP-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Cancer cells; Cell Biology; Cell Hypoxia - physiology; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Development and progression; Enzyme Activation; Female; Humans; Internal Medicine; Laboratory Medicine; MCF-7 Cells; Pathology; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases - metabolism; mTOR; hypoxia; breast cancer; AMPK; adaptation to hypoxia
• ISSN: 0007-4888; 1573-8221
• DOI: 10.1007/s10517-016-3217-5

We studied the mechanisms of adaptation of human breast cancer cells MCF-7 to hypoxia and analyzed the role of AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway in the maintenance of cell proliferation under hypoxic conditions. It was found that long-term culturing (30 days or more) of MCF-7 cells under hypoxic conditions induced their partial adaptation to hypoxia. Cell adaptation to hypoxia was associated with attenuation of hypoxia-dependent AMPK induction with simultaneous constitutive activation of mTOR and Akt. These findings suggest that these proteins can be promising targets for targeted therapy of tumors developing under hypoxic conditions.