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Synergistic effect of targeting mTOR by rapamycin and depleting ATP by inhibition of glycolysis in lymphoma and leukemia cells

Leukemia volume 19, pages 2153–2158 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway plays important roles in regulating nutrient metabolism and promoting the growth and survival of cancer cells, which exhibit increased glycolysis for ATP generation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that inhibition of the mTOR pathway and glycolysis would synergistically impact the energy metabolism in cancer cells and may serve as an effective therapeutic strategy to kill malignant cells. Using human lymphoma cells and leukemia cells, we demonstrated that the combination of rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, with a glycolytic inhibitor produced synergistic cytotoxic effect, as evidenced by apoptosis and cell growth inhibition assays. Mechanistic studies showed that inhibition of the mTOR pathway by rapamycin alone sufficiently suppressed the phosphorylation of the downstream molecules p70S6K and 4E-BP-1, but only caused a moderate cytostatic effect. Combination of mTOR inhibition and blockage of glycolysis synergistically suppressed glucose uptake and severely depleted cellular ATP pools, leading to significant enhancement of cell killing. In contrast, combination of rapamycin and ara-C did not increase cytotoxicity in vitro. Our findings suggest that targeting mTOR pathway in combination with inhibition of glycolysis may be an effective therapeutic strategy for hematological malignancies. This mechanism-based drug combination warrants further investigation in preclinical and clinical settings.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by Grants CA85563, CA100428, CA109041, and CA100632 from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    R-H Xu, H Pelicano, H Zhang & P Huang

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China

    R-H Xu

  3. Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    F J Giles & M J Keating

Authors
  1. R-H Xu
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  2. H Pelicano
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  3. H Zhang
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  4. F J Giles
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  5. M J Keating
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  6. P Huang
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Correspondence to P Huang.

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Xu, RH., Pelicano, H., Zhang, H. et al. Synergistic effect of targeting mTOR by rapamycin and depleting ATP by inhibition of glycolysis in lymphoma and leukemia cells. Leukemia 19, 2153–2158 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403968

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