A novel heat shock protein inhibitor KU757 with efficacy in lenvatinib-resistant follicular thyroid cancer cells overcomes up-regulated glycolysis in drug-resistant cells in vitro

Chitra Subramanian, Rebecca Gorney, Ton Wang, Derek Ge, Nina Zhang, Ang Zuo, Brian S.J. Blagg, Mark S. Cohen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Patients with advanced differentiated thyroid cancer develop resistance to lenvatinib treatment from metabolic dysregulation. Heat shock protein 90 is a molecular chaperone that plays an important role in glycolysis and metabolic pathway regulation. We hypothesize that lenvatinib-resistant differentiated thyroid cancer cells will have an increased dependency on glycolysis and that a novel C-terminal heat shock protein 90 inhibitor (KU757) can effectively treat lenvatinib-resistant cells by targeting glycolysis. Methods: Inhibitory concentration 50 values of thyroid cancer cells were determined by CellTiter-Glo assay (Promega Corp, Madison, WI). Glycolysis was measured through Seahorse experiments. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot evaluated glycolytic pathway genes/proteins. Exosomes were isolated/validated by nanoparticle tracking analysis and Western blot. Differentially expressed long non-coding ribonucleic acids in exosomes and cells were evaluated using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: Extracellular acidification rate demonstrated >2-fold upregulation of glycolysis in lenvatinib-resistant cells versus parent cells and was downregulated after KU757 treatment. Lenvatinib-resistant cells showed increased expression of the glycolytic genes lactic acid dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase M1/2, and hexokinase 2. KU757 treatment resulted in downregulation of these genes and proteins. Several long non-coding ribonucleic acids associated with glycolysis were significantly upregulated in WRO-lenvatinib–resistant cells and exosomes and downregulated after KU757 treatment. Conclusion: Lenvatinib resistance leads to increased glycolysis, and KU757 effectively treats lenvatinib-resistant cells and overcomes this increased glycolysis by targeting key glycolytic genes, proteins, and long non-coding ribonucleic acids.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)34-42
Number of pages9
JournalSurgery (United States)
Volume169
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2021
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surgery

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