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Warburg effect is an emerging hallmark of cancer cells with pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) as its key regulator. Curcumin is an extensively-studied anti-cancer compound, however, its role in affecting cancer metabolism remains poorly understood. Herein, we show that curcumin inhibits glucose uptake and lactate production (Warburg effect) in a variety of cancer cell lines by down-regulating PKM2 expression, via inhibition of mTOR-HIF1α axis. Stable PKM2 silencing revealed that PKM2 is required for Warburg effect and proliferation of cancer cells. PKM2 over-expression abrogated the effects of curcumin, demonstrating that inhibition of Warburg effect by curcumin is PKM2-mediated. High PKM2 expression correlated strongly with poor overall survival in cancer, suggesting the requirement of PKM2 in cancer progression. The study unravels novel PKM2-mediated inhibitory effect of curcumin on metabolic capacities of cancer cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study linking curcumin with PKM2-driven cancer glycolysis, thus, providing new perspectives into the mechanism of its anticancer activity.
Pubmed ID: 29844464
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Cell line NCI-H1299 is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line MCF-7 is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line HEK293T is a Transformed cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line HeLa is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens
View all literature mentionsCell line NCI-H1299 is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line HEK293 is a Transformed cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentions