Immunoreactivity was semi-quantitatively evaluated according to intensity and area: the staining intensity of pancreatic malignancy cells themselves was recorded while no staining (0), weak to moderate staining (1) or strong staining (2). higher level of Trelagliptin PFKFB3 O-GlcNAcylation in tumor cells contributing to cell cycle progression. Consistently, the PFKFB3-Ser172 phosphorylation level inversely correlated with the OGT level in pancreatic malignancy individuals. Our findings uncovered an O-GlcNAcylation mediated mechanism to promote tumor cell proliferation under metabolic stress, linking the aberrant OGT activity to tumorigenesis in pancreatic malignancy. Subject terms: Glycosylation, Malignancy metabolism Introduction Malignancy cells need to reprogram signaling pathways for cell proliferation to resist microenvironment stress with limited oxygen and glucose, presumably through the modified post-translational changes of practical proteins1. Cellular O-GlcNAcylation, which is definitely reversibly catalyzed at protein Ser/Thr residues by O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA)2, is definitely tightly controlled from the availability of oxygen and glucose3,4. Moreover, elevated O-GlcNAcylation levels have been generally reported to be essential for various kinds of tumor development5C7. However, its still unclear whether and how aberrant O-GlcNAcylation endues malignancy cells with the potential to undermine the adverse signals induced by metabolic stress. Rate of metabolism is definitely fundamentally linked to numerous cellular physiological events8,9. Growing evidence demonstrates that modified metabolic enzymes or metabolites can modulate cellular activities during stress, via directly mediating signaling pathways10C13. 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatases 3 (PFKFB3), the hypoxia-induced glycolytic activator, resides in both cytosol and nucleus, and phosphorylates fructose 6-phosphate (F6P) to fructose-2,6-bisphosphate (F2,6BP)14,15. The cytosolic PFKFB3 activates the key glycolytic enzyme 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase (PFK1) and guarantees the cellular energy production16,17. However, the nuclear PFKFB3 was reported to keep up cell cycle progression via degrading cell cycle inhibitor P27, without influencing the glucose catabolism18,19, which obviously accelerates the cellular energy usage. However, how the multifaceted effects of PFKFB3 are coordinated remains elusive. In the present study, we found not only the manifestation level but also the Trelagliptin O-GlcNAcylation of PFKFB3 could be induced by hypoxia. However, with limited OGT activity, hypoxia-activated ERK could phosphorylate PFKFB3 in the recognized O-GlcNAcylation site, which promotes PFKFB3-G3BP2 connection and results in PFKFB3 cytosolic retention. Moreover, the O-GlcNAcylation of PFKFB3 with a remarkable level in malignancy cells compromises the hypoixa-induced ERK-PFKFB3-G3BP2 pathway and impedes hypoxia-induced P27 build up, resulting in cell cycle progression under hypoxia stress condition. Results PFKFB3 is definitely dynamically altered by O-GlcNAc Protein O-GlcNAcylation by OGT is definitely important for cell proliferation, which may contribute to pancreatic tumorigenesis. To investigate how OGT is definitely implicated in this process, O-GlcNAc-modified proteins from human being pancreatic duct epithelial malignancy cell lysates were labelled with non-natural azido sugar. Subsequent precipitation and immunoblotting showed the PFKFB3, the hypoxia-induced regulator of glucose catabolism, is altered by O-GlcNAc, which was further enhanced by hypoxia in both SW1990 (Fig. ?(Fig.1a)1a) and PANC-1 cells (Fig. S1a). To determine the mechanism, we stably indicated exogenous Flag-PFKFB3, the amount of which kept unchanged under hypoxia (Fig. ?(Fig.1b),1b), in SW1990 cells. The adopted analysis showed the O-GlcNAcylated Flag-PFKFB3, as well as the OGT protein level were also enhanced by hypoxia, both of which were negated by OGT shRNA (Fig. ?(Fig.1b),1b), suggesting the increased O-GlcNAcylation of PFKFB3 was not only due to the increased total amount of PFKFB3, but also the upregulated OGT activity during hypoxia. In line with earlier statement4, the global O-GlcNAcylation was also enhanced by hypoxia and further suppressed by OGT shRNA and glucose deprivation (Fig. S1b). Moreover, overexpressed OGT enhanced PFKFB3 O-GlcNAcylation in normal pancreatic duct epithelial (HPDE) cells (Fig. S1c, remaining), without influencing the PFKFB3 enzymatic activity (Fig. S1c, right). Open in a separate windows Fig. 1 PFKFB3 is definitely altered by O-GlcNAc.a, b SW1990 cells (a) with Flag-PFKFB3 and OGT shRNA manifestation (b) were cultured for 12?h under hypoxia or normoxia. The O-GlcNAc altered proteins altered by azide were labeled with biotin and isolated with streptavidin beads for immunoblotting analyses. c Flag-PFKFB3 was indicated in SW1990 Rabbit polyclonal to ZCCHC12 cells. Immunoprecipitation analysis was performed using the anti-Flag antibody, and the components were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Precursor mass shift with HexNAc changes, measured with high mass tolerance (5?ppm); living of signature HexNAc+1 fragment ions in MSMS spectra; living of site localization ions (y19+) that covers the altered S172; almost total y ion series for the peptide (Carb stands for carbamidomethyl). These evidences show that S172 was O-GlcNac altered. d, e SW1990 cells with indicated WT or mutant Flag-PFKFB3 (d) or SW1990 and Trelagliptin HPDE cells.