Version 1
: Received: 18 July 2024 / Approved: 18 July 2024 / Online: 19 July 2024 (12:01:21 CEST)
How to cite:
Rossi, V.; Hochkoeppler, A.; Govoni, M.; Di Stefano, G. Lactate-Induced HBEGF Shedding and EGFR Activation: Paving the Way to a New Anticancer Therapeutic Opportunity. Preprints2024, 2024071510. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.1510.v1
Rossi, V.; Hochkoeppler, A.; Govoni, M.; Di Stefano, G. Lactate-Induced HBEGF Shedding and EGFR Activation: Paving the Way to a New Anticancer Therapeutic Opportunity. Preprints 2024, 2024071510. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.1510.v1
Rossi, V.; Hochkoeppler, A.; Govoni, M.; Di Stefano, G. Lactate-Induced HBEGF Shedding and EGFR Activation: Paving the Way to a New Anticancer Therapeutic Opportunity. Preprints2024, 2024071510. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.1510.v1
APA Style
Rossi, V., Hochkoeppler, A., Govoni, M., & Di Stefano, G. (2024). Lactate-Induced HBEGF Shedding and EGFR Activation: Paving the Way to a New Anticancer Therapeutic Opportunity. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.1510.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Rossi, V., Marzia Govoni and Giuseppina Di Stefano. 2024 "Lactate-Induced HBEGF Shedding and EGFR Activation: Paving the Way to a New Anticancer Therapeutic Opportunity" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.1510.v1
Abstract
Cancer cells can release EGF-like peptides, acquiring the capacity of autocrine stimulation via EGFR-mediated signaling. One of these peptides (HBEGF) was found to be released from a membrane-bound precursor protein, and is critically implicated in the proliferative potential of cancer cells. We observed that the increased lactate levels characterizing neoplastic tissues can induce the release of uPA, a prote-ase promoting HBEGF shedding. This effect led to EGFR activation and increased ERK1/2 phosphoryla-tion. Since EGFR-mediated signaling potentiates glycolytic metabolism, this phenomenon can induce a self-sustaining deleterious loop, favoring tumor growth. A well characterized HBEGF inhibitor is CRM197, a single-site variant of diphtheria toxin. We observed that when administered individually, CRM197 did not trigger evident antineoplastic effects. However, its association with a uPA inhibitor caused dampening of EGFR-mediated signaling and apoptosis induction. Overall, our study highlights that the increased glycolytic metabolism and lactate production can foster the activated state of EGFR receptor, and suggests that the inhibition of EGFR-mediated signaling can be attempted by means of CRM197 administered with an appropriate protease inhibitor. This attempt could help in overcoming the problem of the acquired resistance to the conventionally used EGFR inhibitors.
Keywords
cancer cell metabolism; lactate; EGFR; HBEGF
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Pathology and Pathobiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
