Growing Human Hepatocellular Tumors Undergo a Global Metabolic Reprogramming

• Main Authors: Fangrong Zhang, Yingchao Wang, Geng Chen, Zhenli Li, Xiaohua Xing, Csilla Putz-Bankuti, Rudolf E. Stauber, Xiaolong Liu, Tobias Madl
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Cancers
• Subjects: hepatocellular carcinoma; metabolomics; proteomics; NMR spectroscopy; predictive model
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/8/1980

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy with poor prognosis, high morbidity and mortality concerning with lack of effective diagnosis and high postoperative recurrence. Similar with other cancers, HCC cancer cells have to alter their metabolism to adapt to the changing requirements imposed by the environment of the growing tumor. In less vascularized regions of tumor, cancer cells experience hypoxia and nutrient starvation. Here, we show that HCC undergoes a global metabolic reprogramming during tumor growth. A combined proteomics and metabolomics analysis of paired peritumoral and tumor tissues from 200 HCC patients revealed liver-specific metabolic reprogramming and metabolic alterations with increasing tumor sizes. Several proteins and metabolites associated with glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and pyrimidine synthesis were found to be differentially regulated in serum, tumor and peritumoral tissue with increased tumor sizes. Several prognostic metabolite biomarkers involved in HCC metabolic reprogramming were identified and integrated with clinical and pathological data. We built and validated this combined model to discriminate against patients with different recurrence risks. An integrated and comprehensive metabolomic analysis of HCC is provided by our present work. Metabolomic alterations associated with the advanced stage of the disease and poor clinical outcomes, were revealed. Targeting cancer metabolism may deliver effective therapies for HCC.