Cancer-associated fibroblasts modify lung cancer metabolism involving ROS and TGF-β signaling

Abstract

Lung cancer is a major public health problem due to its high incidence and mortality rate. The altered metabolism in lung cancer is key for the diagnosis and has implications on both, the prognosis and the response to treatments. Although Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are one of the major components of the tumor microenvironment, little is known about their role in lung cancer metabolism. We studied tumor biopsies from a cohort of 12 stage IIIA lung adenocarcinoma patients and saw a positive correlation between the grade of fibrosis and the glycolysis phenotype (Low PGC-1α and High GAPDH/MT-CO1 ratio mRNA levels). These results were confirmed and extended to other metabolism-related genes through the in silico data analysis from 73 stage IIIA lung adenocarcinoma patients available in TCGA. Interestingly, these relationships are not observed with the CAFs marker α-SMA in both cohorts. To characterize the mechanism, in vitro co-culture studies were carried out using two NSCLC cell lines (A549 and H1299 cells) and two different fibroblast cell lines. Our results confirm that a metabolic reprogramming involving ROS and TGF-β signaling occurs in lung cancer cells and fibroblasts independently of α-SMA induction. Under co-culture conditions, Cancer-Associated fibroblasts increase their glycolytic ability. On the other hand, tumor cells increase their mitochondrial function. Moreover, the differential capability among tumor cells to induce this metabolic shift and also the role of the basal fibroblasts Oxphos Phosphorylation (OXPHOS) function modifying this phenomenon could have implications on both, the diagnosis and prognosis of patients. Further knowledge in the mechanism involved may allow the development of new therapies.