Glycolysis

About: Glycolysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10593 publications have been published within this topic receiving 507460 citations. The topic is also known as: GO:0006096 & glycolysis.

Review of aerobic glycolysis and its key enzymes – new targets for lung cancer therapy

Abstract: Most tumor cells show different metabolic pathways than normal cells. Even under the conditions of sufficient oxygen, they produce energy by a high rate of glycolysis followed by lactic acid fermentation in the cytosol, which is known as aerobic glycolysis or the Warburg effect. Lung cancer is a malignant tumor with one of the highest incidence and mortality rates in the world at present. However, the exact mechanisms underlying lung cancer development remain unclear. The three key enzymes of glycolysis are hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, and pyruvate kinase. Lactate dehydrogenase catalyzes the transfer of pyruvate to lactate. All four enzymes have been reported to be overexpressed in tumors, including lung cancer, and can be regulated by many oncoproteins to promote tumor proliferation, migration, and metastasis with dependence or independence of glycolysis. The discovery of aerobic glycolysis in the 1920s has provided new means and potential therapeutic targets for lung cancer.

Evidence for a negative Pasteur effect in articular cartilage.

Abstract: Uptake of external glucose and production of lactate were measured in freshly-excised bovine articular cartilage under O2 concentrations ranging from 21% (air) to zero (N2-bubbled). Anoxia (O2 concentration < 1% in the gas phase) severely inhibited both glucose uptake and lactate production. The decrease in lactate formation correlated closely with the decrease in glucose uptake, in a mole ratio of 2:1. This reduction in the rate of glycolysis in anoxic conditions is seen as evidence of a negative Pasteur effect in bovine articular cartilage. Anoxia also suppressed glycolysis in articular cartilage from horse, pig and sheep. Inhibitors acting on the glycolytic pathway (2-deoxy-D-glucose, iodoacetamide or fluoride) strongly decreased aerobic lactate production and ATP concentration, consistent with the belief that articular cartilage obtains its principal supply of ATP from substrate-level phosphorylation in glycolysis. Azide or cyanide lowered the ATP concentration in aerobic cartilage to approximately the same extent as did anoxia but, because glycolysis (lactate production) was also inhibited by these treatments, the importance of any mitochondrial ATP production could not be assessed. A negative Pasteur effect would make chondrocytes particularly liable to suffer a shortage of energy under anoxic conditions. Incorporation of [35S]sulphate into proteoglycan was severely curtailed by treatments, such as anoxia, which decreased the intracellular concentration of ATP.

Perspective: emerging evidence for signaling roles of mitochondrial anaplerotic products in insulin secretion.

Abstract: The importance of mitochondrial biosynthesis in stimulus secretion coupling in the insulin-producing beta-cell probably equals that of ATP production. In glucose-induced insulin secretion, the rate of pyruvate carboxylation is very high and correlates more strongly with the glucose concentration the beta-cell is exposed to (and thus with insulin release) than does pyruvate decarboxylation, which produces acetyl-CoA for metabolism in the citric acid cycle to produce ATP. The carboxylation pathway can increase the levels of citric acid cycle intermediates, and this indicates that anaplerosis, the net synthesis of cycle intermediates, is important for insulin secretion. Increased cycle intermediates will alter mitochondrial processes, and, therefore, the synthesized intermediates must be exported from mitochondria to the cytosol (cataplerosis). This further suggests that these intermediates have roles in signaling insulin secretion. Although evidence is quite good that all physiological fuel secretagogues stimulate insulin secretion via anaplerosis, evidence is just emerging about the possible extramitochondrial roles of exported citric acid cycle intermediates. This article speculates on their potential roles as signaling molecules themselves and as exporters of equivalents of NADPH, acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA, as well as alpha-ketoglutarate as a substrate for hydroxylases. We also discuss the "succinate mechanism," which hypothesizes that insulin secretagogues produce both NADPH and mevalonate. Finally, we discuss the role of mitochondria in causing oscillations in beta-cell citrate levels. These parallel oscillations in ATP and NAD(P)H. Oscillations in beta-cell plasma membrane electrical potential, ATP/ADP and NAD(P)/NAD(P)H ratios, and glycolytic flux are known to correlate with pulsatile insulin release. Citrate oscillations might synchronize oscillations of individual mitochondria with one another and mitochondrial oscillations with oscillations in glycolysis and, therefore, with flux of pyruvate into mitochondria. Thus citrate oscillations may synchronize mitochondrial ATP production and anaplerosis with other cellular oscillations.

Human pyruvate kinase M2: a multifunctional protein.

Abstract: Glycolysis, a central metabolic pathway, harbors evolutionary conserved enzymes that modulate and potentially shift the cellular metabolism on requirement. Pyruvate kinase, which catalyzes the last but rate-limiting step of glycolysis, is expressed in four isozymic forms, depending on the tissue requirement. M2 isoform (PKM2) is exclusively expressed in embryonic and adult dividing/tumor cells. This tetrameric allosterically regulated isoform is intrinsically designed to downregulate its activity by subunit dissociation (into dimer), which results in partial inhibition of glycolysis at the last step. This accumulates all upstream glycolytic intermediates as an anabolic feed for synthesis of lipids and nucleic acids, whereas reassociation of PKM2 into active tetramer replenishes the normal catabolism as a feedback after cell division. In addition, involvement of this enzyme in a variety of pathways, protein–protein interactions, and nuclear transport suggests its potential to perform multiple nonglycolytic functions with diverse implications, although multidimensional role of this protein is as yet not fully explored. This review aims to provide an overview of the involvement of PKM2 in various physiological pathways with possible functional implications.