Rewiring glucose metabolism improves 5-FU efficacy in p53-deficient/KRAS G12D glycolytic colorectal tumors

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 1159
• Main Authors: Ludikhuize, Marlies C, Gevers, Sira, Nguyen, Nguyen T B, Meerlo, Maaike, Roudbari, S Khadijeh Shafiei, Gulersonmez, M Can, Stigter, Edwin C A, Drost, Jarno, Clevers, Hans, Burgering, Boudewijn M T, Rodríguez Colman, Maria J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 31.10.2022
• Subjects: Colorectal Neoplasms - drug therapy; Colorectal Neoplasms - genetics; Colorectal Neoplasms - pathology; Fluorouracil - pharmacology; Fluorouracil - therapeutic use; Glucose; Humans; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) - metabolism; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - genetics; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - metabolism
• ISSN: 2399-3642

Despite the fact that 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is the backbone for chemotherapy in colorectal cancer (CRC), the response rates in patients is limited to 50%. The mechanisms underlying 5-FU toxicity are debated, limiting the development of strategies to improve its efficacy. How fundamental aspects of cancer, such as driver mutations and phenotypic heterogeneity, relate to the 5-FU response remains obscure. This largely relies on the limited number of studies performed in pre-clinical models able to recapitulate the key features of CRC. Here, we analyzed the 5-FU response in patient-derived organoids that reproduce the different stages of CRC. We find that 5-FU induces pyrimidine imbalance, which leads to DNA damage and cell death in the actively proliferating cancer cells deficient in p53. Importantly, p53-deficiency leads to cell death due to impaired cell cycle arrest. Moreover, we find that targeting the Warburg effect in KRAS glycolytic tumor organoids enhances 5-FU toxicity by further altering the nucleotide pool and, importantly, without affecting non-transformed WT cells. Thus, p53 emerges as an important factor in determining the 5-FU response, and targeting cancer metabolism in combination with replication stress-inducing chemotherapies emerges as a promising strategy for CRC treatment.