Cancer cells often fail to respond to stimuli that normally activate their intrinsic apoptotic machinery. Moreover, they are able to adapt to hypoxia by changing their glycolytic rate. Pyruvate kinase (PK) is a rate-limiting enzyme in glycolysis that is converted to a less active dimer form of PKM2 isoenzyme during oncogenesis. Here, we show that both somatostatin and the structural analogue TT...

A recent research in cancer research demonstrates that tumor-specific pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) plays an important role in chromosome segregation and mitosis progression of tumor cells. To improve the drug development of TCM compounds, we aim to identify potent TCM compounds as lead compounds of PKM2 regulators. PONDR-Fit protocol was utilized to predict the disordered disposition in the bindin...

Reliance on aerobic glycolysis is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Although pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) is a key mediator of glycolysis in cancer cells, lack of selective agents that target PKM2 remains a challenge in exploiting metabolic pathways for cancer therapy. We report that unlike its structural analog shikonin, a known inhibitor of PKM2, lapachol failed to induce non-apoptotic cell death ...

Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key determinants of cancer progression. In prostate carcinoma (PCa), CAFs induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metabolic reprogramming of PCa cells towards oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), promoting tumor growth and metastatic dissemination. We herein establish a novel role for pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), an established effector of Warbur...

Normal tissues express the M1 isoform of pyruvate kinase (PK) that helps generate and funnel pyruvate into the mitochondria for ATP production. Tumors, in contrast, express the less active PKM2 isoform, which limits pyruvate production and spares glycolytic intermediates for the generation of macromolecules needed for proliferation. Although high PKM2 expression and low PK activity are consider...

Increase in the concentration of plasma L-cysteine is closely associated with defective insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells, which results in type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this study, we investigated the effects of prolonged L-cysteine treatment on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) from mouse insulinoma 6 (MIN6) cells and from mouse pancreatic islets, and found that the treatment re...

The switch of pyruvate kinase (PK) M1 to PKM2 is pivotal for glucose metabolism in cancers. The PKM1/M2 shift is controlled by the alternative splicing of two mutually exclusive exons in the PKM gene. PKM1 is expressed in differentiated tissues, whereas PKM2 is expressed in cancer tissues. This study revealed that the haplodeficiency of FUSE-binding protein (FBP)-interacting repressor (FIR), a ...

The high proliferative rate of tumor cells leads to metabolic needs distinct from those of their normal counterparts. An embryonic- and tumor-specific isoform of the enzyme pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) is overexpressed in cancer cells to increase the use of glycolytic intermediates for macromolecular biosynthesis and tumor growth. We report that Cycl...

The objective of this study was to investigate the association of PKM2 gene with glycolytic potential and meat quality traits in three groups of fatteners - Landrace, Landrace x Yorkshire and (Landrace x Yorkshire) x Duroc. The present study was conducted on 243 fatteners, free of RYR1(T) gene, which 95 were of Landrace breed and the rest were the following crosses: 66 - Landrace x Yorkshire an...

The measurement of fecal tumor M2-pyruvate kinase (PKM2), overexpressed in tumor cells, has been proposed as a novel tool for detecting colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the sensitivity and specificity of this test varied among studies. The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of fecal PKM2 for CRC and to evaluate its utility in the CRC screening. It was compared t...