Poster Presentation 35th Lorne Cancer Conference 2023

Multi-substrate metabolic tracing reveals marked heterogeneity and dependency on fatty acid metabolism in human prostate cancer (#143)

Gio Fidelito 1 , David P. De Souza 2 , Birunthi Niranjan 3 , William de Nardo 1 , Shivakumar Keerthikumar 4 5 6 , Kristin Brown 4 6 7 , Renea A. Taylor 4 6 8 , Matthew J. Watt 1
  1. Anatomy and Physiology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  2. Metabolomics Australia, Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Cancer Program, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. Computational Cancer Biology Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  6. Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  7. Biochemistry and Pharmacology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  8. Physiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Cancer Program, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Cancer cells undergo metabolic reprogramming to meet increased bioenergetic demands. Studies in cells and mice have highlighted the importance of oxidative metabolism and lipogenesis in prostate cancer, however, the metabolic landscape of human prostate cancer remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we performed radiometric (14C) and stable (13C) isotope tracing assays in precision-cut slices of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) representing different stages of disease. Glucose, glutamine, and fatty acid oxidation was variably upregulated in malignant PDXs compared to benign PDXs, while lactate oxidation was unchanged. De novo lipogenesis (DNL) and storage of free fatty acids into phospholipids and triacylglycerols were increased in malignant PDXs. There was no difference in substrate utilization between localized and metastatic PDXs and hierarchical clustering revealed marked metabolic heterogeneity across all PDXs. Mechanistically, glucose utilization was mediated by acetyl-CoA production rather than carboxylation of pyruvate, while glutamine entered the TCA cycle through transaminase reactions before being utilized via oxidative or reductive pathways. Blocking fatty acid uptake or fatty acid oxidation with pharmacological inhibitors was sufficient to reduce cell viability in all PDX-derived organoids (PDXOs) examined, whereas blockade of DNL, or glucose or glutamine oxidation induced variable and limited therapeutic efficacy in PDXOs. These findings demonstrate that human prostate cancer, irrespective of disease stage, can effectively utilize all metabolic substrates, albeit with marked heterogeneity across tumors. We also confirm that fatty acid uptake and oxidation are targetable metabolic vulnerabilities in human prostate cancer.