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The PGC-1/ERR signaling axis in cancer

Oncogene volume 32, pages 3483–3490 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Proliferating cells need to produce a large amount of energy and, at the same time, need to maintain a constant supply of biosynthetic precursors of macromolecules that are used as building blocks for generating new cells. Indeed, many cancer cells undergo a switch from mitochondrial to glycolytic metabolism and display a truncated tricarboxylic acid cycle to match these specific metabolic requirements of proliferation. Understanding the mechanisms by which cancer cells reprogram various metabolic pathways to satisfy their unique bioenergetic requirements has become an active field of research. Concomitantly, it has emerged that members of a family of orphan nuclear receptors known as the estrogen-related receptors (ERRs), working in concert with members of the PPARγ coactivator (PGC)-1 family, act as central transcriptional regulators of metabolic gene networks involved in maintaining energy homeostasis in normal cells. Recent studies have suggested that the PGC-1/ERR transcriptional axis is also important in the metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells. This review focuses on the functional integration of the PGC-1/ERR axis with known oncogenes and the observation that modulation of the activity of this axis can have both pro- and anti-proliferative properties.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to VG (MOP-64275) and JSt-P (MOP-106603) and a Program Project Grant from the Terry Fox Foundation to VG and JSt-P (TFF-116128). GD was supported by a predoctoral traineeship award (W81XWH-10-1-0489) from the US Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. JSt-P is an FRSQ research scholar.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Goodman Cancer Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    G Deblois, J St-Pierre & V Giguère

  2. Departments of Medicine and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    V Giguère

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Deblois, G., St-Pierre, J. & Giguère, V. The PGC-1/ERR signaling axis in cancer. Oncogene 32, 3483–3490 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2012.529

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