ACTL6A regulates follicle-stimulating hormone-driven glycolysis in ovarian cancer cells via PGK1

• Published in: Cell death & disease Vol. 10; no. 11; pp. 811 - 13
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jiawen, Zhang, Jing, Wei, Yingze, Li, Qingxian, Wang, Qingying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.10.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; 13/1; 13/51; 13/89; 38/77; 631/67/1517/1709; 631/67/2327; 64/60; 82/80; Actins - genetics; Adult; Aged; AKT protein; Animals; Antibodies; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Cell Culture; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation - genetics; Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone - genetics; Disease-Free Survival; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone - genetics; Follicle Stimulating Hormone - metabolism; Follicle-stimulating hormone; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic - genetics; Glucose metabolism; Glycolysis; Glycolysis - genetics; Health risk assessment; Heterografts; Humans; Immunology; Lactic acid; Life Sciences; Menopause; Metabolism; Mice; Middle Aged; Ovarian cancer; Ovarian Neoplasms - genetics; Ovarian Neoplasms - pathology; Ovary - metabolism; Ovary - pathology; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - genetics; Phosphoglycerate Kinase - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - genetics; Pyruvic acid; Signal Transduction - genetics; Tumorigenicity
• ISSN: 2041-4889; 2041-4889
• DOI: 10.1038/s41419-019-2050-y

Enhanced glycolysis has been identified as a hallmark of cancer. As a novel oncogene, ACTL6A is aberrantly amplified in several types of human cancers and has been shown to regulate tumor growth and progression. However, the roles of ACTL6A in the development of ovarian cancer and the regulation of cancer glucose metabolism are mostly unknown. Here we show that ACTL6A is overexpressed in ovarian cancers compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues, and that ACTL6A overexpression correlates with poor prognosis. Silencing of ACTL6A in vitro inhibits proliferation, clonal growth, and migration, and decreases glucose utilization, lactate production, and pyruvate levels of ovarian cancer cells. We found a positive correlation between ACTL6A and PGK1 expression in ovarian cancer tissues. Enforced ACTL6A expression increased PGK1 expression, whereas knockdown of ACTL6A had the opposite effect. Altered ACTL6A expression inhibits the tumorigenicity of ovarian cancer cells in vivo by downregulating PGK1. In addition, the expression of ACTL6A is regulated by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) stimulation via PI3K/AKT pathway. Importantly, ACTL6A regulates FSH-enhanced glycolysis in ovarian cancer. Taken together, our findings highlight the critical role of ACTL6A in ovarian cancer development and identify its contribution to glucose metabolism of cancer cells.