Hydrogen sulfide coordinates glucose metabolism switch through destabilizing tetrameric pyruvate kinase M2.

ABSTRACT: Most cancer cells reprogram their glucose metabolic pathway from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis for energy production. By reducing enzyme activity of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), cancer cells attain a greater fraction of glycolytic metabolites for macromolecule synthesis needed for rapid proliferation. Here we demonstrate that hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) destabilizes the PKM2 tetramer into monomer/dimer through sulfhydration at cysteines, notably at C326, leading to reduced PKM2 enzyme activity and increased PKM2-mediated transcriptional activation. Blocking PKM2 sulfhydration at C326 through amino acid mutation stabilizes the PKM2 tetramer and crystal structure further revealing the tetramer organization of PKM2-C326S. The PKM2-C326S mutant in cancer cells rewires glucose metabolism to mitochondrial respiration, significantly inhibiting tumor growth. In this work, we demonstrate that PKM2 sulfhydration by H₂S inactivates PKM2 activity to promote tumorigenesis and inhibiting this process could be a potential therapeutic approach for targeting cancer metabolism.

SUBMITTER: Wang RH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11358145 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature