Glutathione metabolism is essential for self-renewal and chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer stem cells

BACKGROUND Cellular metabolism regulates stemness in health and disease.A reduced redox state is essential for self-renewal of normal and cancer stem cells(CSCs).However,while stem cells rely on glycolysis,different CSCs,including pancreatic CSCs,favor mitochondrial metabolism as their dominant energy-producing pathway.This suggests that powerful antioxidant networks must be in place to detoxify mitochondrial reactive oxygen species(ROS)and maintain stemness in oxidative CSCs.Since glutathione metabolism is critical for normal stem cell function and CSCs from breast,liver and gastric cancer show increased glutathione content,we hypothesized that pancreatic CSCs also rely on this pathway for ROS detoxification.AIM To investigate the role of glutathione metabolism in pancreatic CSCs.METHODS Primary pancreatic cancer cells of patient-derived xenografts(PDXs)were cultured in adherent or CSC-enriching sphere conditions to determine the role of glutathione metabolism in stemness.Real-time polymerase chain reaction(PCR)was used to validate RNAseq results involving glutathione metabolism genes in adherent vs spheres,as well as the expression of pluripotency-related genes following treatment.Public TCGA and GTEx RNAseq data from pancreatic cancer vs normal tissue samples were analyzed using the webserver GEPIA2.The glutathione-sensitive fluorescent probe monochlorobimane was used to determine glutathione content by fluorimetry or flow cytometry.Pharmacological inhibitors of glutathione synthesis and recycling[buthionine-sulfoximine(BSO)and 6-Aminonicotinamide(6-AN),respectively]were used to investigate the impact of glutathione depletion on CSC-enriched cultures.Staining with propidium iodide(cell cycle),Annexin-V(apoptosis)and CD133(CSC content)were determined by flow cytometry.Self-renewal was assessed by sphere formation assay and response to gemcitabine treatment was used as a readout for chemoresistance.RESULTS Analysis of our previously published RNAseq dataset E-MTAB-3808 revealed upregulation of genes involved in the KEGG(Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes)Pathway Glutathione Metabolism in CSC-enriched cultures compared to their differentiated counterparts.Consistently,in pancreatic cancer patient samples the expression of most of these up-regulated genes positively correlated with a stemness signature defined by NANOG,KLF4,SOX2 and OCT4 expression(P<10-5).Moreover,3 of the upregulated genes(MGST1,GPX8,GCCT)were associated with reduced disease-free survival in patients[Hazard ratio(HR)2.2-2.5;P=0.03-0.0054],suggesting a critical role for this pathway in pancreatic cancer progression.CSC-enriched sphere cultures also showed increased expression of different glutathione metabolism-related genes,as well as enhanced glutathione content in its reduced form(GSH).Glutathione depletion with BSO induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in spheres,and diminished the expression of stemness genes.Moreover,treatment with either BSO or the glutathione recycling inhibitor 6-AN inhibited self-renewal and the expression of the CSC marker CD133.GSH content in spheres positively correlated with intrinsic resistance to gemcitabine treatment in different PDXs r=0.96,P=5.8×1011).Additionally,CD133+cells accumulated GSH in response to gemcitabine,which was abrogated by BSO treatment(P<0.05).Combined treatment with BSO and gemcitabine-induced apoptosis in CD133+cells to levels comparable to CD133-cells and significantly diminished self-renewal(P<0.05),suggesting that chemoresistance of CSCs is partially dependent on GSH metabolism.CONCLUSION Our data suggest that pancreatic CSCs depend on glutathione metabolism.Pharmacological targeting of this pathway showed that high GSH content is essential to maintain CSC functionality in terms of self-renewal and chemoresistance.

Hematotesticular barrier is altered from early stages of liver cirrhosis:Effect of insulin-like growth factor 1

AIM:The pathogenesis of hypogonadism in liver cirrhosis is not well understood.Previous results from our laboratory showed that IGF-1 deficiency might play a pathogenetic role in hypogonadism of cirrhosis.The administration of IGF-1 for a short period of time reverted the testicular atrophy associated with advanced experimental cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to establish the historical progression of the described alterations in the testes, explore testicular morphology,histopathology,cellular proliferation,integrity of testicular barrier and hypophyso- gonadal axis in rats with no ascitic cirrhosis. METHODS:Male Wistar rats with histologically-proven cirrhosis induced with carbon tetrachloride(CCI_4)for 11 wk, were allocated into two groups(n=12,each)to receive recombinant IGF-1(2 μg/100 gd,sc)for two weeks or vehicle.Healthy rats receiving vehicle were used as control group(n=12). RESULTS:Compared to controls,rats with compensated cirrhosis showed a normal testicular size and weight and very few histopathological testicular abnormalities. However,these animals showed a significant diminution of cellular proliferation and a reduction of testicular transferrin expression.In addition,pituitary-gonadal axis was altered,with significant higher levels of FSH(P<0.001 vscontrols)and increased levels of LH in untreated cirrhotic animals.Interestingly,IGF-1 treatment normalized testicular transferrin expression and cellular proliferation and reduced serum levels of LH(P=ns vs controls,and P<0.01 vs untreated cirrhotic group). CONCLUSION:The testicular barrier is altered from an early stage of cirrhosis,shown by a reduction of transferrin expression in Sertoli cells,a diminished cellular proliferation and an altered gonadal axis.The treatment with IGF-1 could be also useful in this initial stage of testicular disorder associated with compensated cirrhosis.