Selection of Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells Based on Adaptability of Their Metabolic State

A small subpopulation of highly adaptable breast cancer cells within a vastly heterogeneous population drives cancer metastasis. Here we describe a function-based strategy for selecting rare cancer cells that are highly adaptable and drive malignancy. Although cancer cells are dependent on certain nutrients, e.g., glucose and glutamine, we hypothesized that the adaptable cancer cells that drive malignancy must possess an adaptable metabolic state and that such cells could be identified using a robust selection strategy. As expected, more than 99.99% of cells died upon glutamine withdrawal from the aggressive breast cancer cell line SUM149. The rare cells that survived and proliferated without glutamine were highly adaptable, as judged by additional robust adaptability assays involving prolonged cell culture without glucose or serum. We were successful in isolating rare metabolically plastic glutamine-independent (Gln-ind) variants from several aggressive breast cancer cell lines that we tested. The Gln-ind cells overexpressed cyclooxygenase-2, an indicator of tumor aggressiveness, and they were able to adjust their glutaminase level to suit glutamine availability. The Gln-ind cells were anchorage-independent, resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs doxorubicin and paclitaxel, and resistant to a high concentration of a COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib. The number of cells being able to adapt to non-availability of glutamine increased upon prior selection of cells for resistance to chemotherapy drugs or resistance to celecoxib, further supporting a linkage between cellular adaptability and therapeutic resistance. Gln-ind cells showed indications of oxidative stress, and they produced cadherin11 and vimentin, indicators of mesenchymal phenotype. Gln-ind cells were more tumorigenic and more metastatic in nude mice than the parental cell line as judged by incidence and time of occurrence. As we decreased the number of cancer cells in xenografts, lung metastasis and then primary tumor growth was impaired in mice injected with parental cell line, but not in mice injected with Gln-ind cells

Selection of Gln-ind variants from breast cancer cell lines.

<p>(A–C) Half a million cells were plated in a 10-cm dish. The next day, the medium was changed to a Gln-free medium containing dialyzed fetal bovine serum. Colonies of cells growing under these conditions for 2–4 weeks were photographed. (D, E) Dishes of colonies stained with crystal violet. (F) SUM149-Luc-Gln-ind cells growing in Gln-free medium.</p

Model summarizing western blot analysis and additional data.

<p>Adaptable Gln-ind cells have high levels of COX-2 and Myc proteins, but they are able to dissociate Myc expression and GLS expression. The majority of cells lacking such adaptability may have perished in the initial selection in Gln-free medium. Broken arrows indicate adaptability to dissociate COX-2 function from Myc function, and Myc function from GLS level in Gln-ind cells, as identified in this study.</p

Glutamine-independent phenotype is adaptable but stable.

<p><b>Top panel:</b> Induction of GLS upon growth in glutamine-containing medium. SUM149-Gln-ind cells growing in Gln-free medium were shifted to Gln-containing medium, and GLS was analyzed by western blotting at different time points after the medium change. <b>Bottom panel:</b> Morphologies of cells growing under different conditions are shown. (A) Gln-ind cells growing without Gln. (B) Gln-ind cells growing in the presence of Gln (they exhibited faster growth and altered morphology upon growth with Gln). (C) Gln-ind cells were maintained in Gln-containing medium for 8 passages and then switched to Gln-free medium for 7 days.</p

Increased level of cadherin11 in Gln-ind cells.

<p>We detected cadherinl1 level by western blotting in parental SUM149-Luc cell line and Gln-ind cell line both growing in a medium with Gln, and Gln-ind cells growing without Gln as indicated at the bottom.</p

COX-2 knockdown does not affect Myc, GLS, HK II, and LDH A protein levels in Gln-ind cells.

<p>We transfected SUM149-Gln-ind cells growing without Gln with a COX-2-specific siRNA or with a control siRNA and analyzed the levels of Myc and some proteins involved in Myc-mediated glycolysis (hexokinase II and lactate dehydrogenase A) and glutaminolysis (glutaminase) by western blotting compared with those in the parental SUM149-Luc cell line.</p

Detection of vimentin in Gln-ind cells.

<p><b>Left,</b> We transfected SUM149-Luc and Gln-ind cells with a COX-2 specific siRNA or a negative control siRNA, allowed cells to grow for 3 days with or without Gln as indicated at the bottom, and then subjected them to western blotting to detect vimentin. <b>Right,</b> Lysates from parental SUM149-Luc cell line and Gln-ind cells were analyzed by SDS-PAGE followed by Coomassie blue staining. A prominent vimentin-size band, which is present in Gln-ind cells and absent in parental cell line, is indicated by an arrow. Left lane shows prestained molecular weight markers. All samples were run on a single gel; however, we excised some irrelevant lanes that were present between the lanes of interest.</p