Paclitaxel Combined with Inhibitors of Glucose and Hydroperoxide Metabolism Enhances Breast Cancer Cell Killing Via H2O2-Mediated Oxidative Stress

摘要

Cancer cells (relative to normal cells) demonstrate alterations in oxidative metabolism characterized by increased steady-state levels of reactive oxygen species [i.e. hydrogen peroxide, H2O2] that may be compensated for by increased glucose metabolism but the therapeutic significance of these observations is unknown. In the current study, inhibitors of glucose [i.e., 2-deoxy-D-glucose, 2DG] and hydroperoxide [i.e., L-buthionine-S, R-sulfoximine, BSO] metabolism were utilized in combination with a chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel [PTX], thought to induce oxidative stress, to treat breast cancer cells. 2DG+PTX were found to be more toxic than either agent alone in T47D and MDA-MB231 human breast cancer cells, but not in normal human fibroblasts or normal human mammary epithelial cells. Increases in parameters indicative of oxidative stress, including steady-state levels of H2O2, total glutathione, and glutathione disulfide accompanied the enhanced toxicity of 2DG+PTX in cancer cells. Antioxidants, including N-acetyl-cysteine [NAC], polyethylene glycol-conjugated catalase [PEG-CAT] and superoxide dismutase [PEG-SOD], inhibited the toxicity of 2DG+PTX and suppressed parameters indicative of oxidative stress in cancer cells, while inhibition of glutathione synthesis using BSO further sensitized breast cancer cells to 2DG+PTX. These results show that combining inhibitors of glucose [2DG] and hydroperoxide [BSO] metabolism with PTX selectively (relative to normal cells) enhances breast cancer cell killing via H2O2-induced metabolic oxidative stress, and suggests that this biochemical rationale may be effectively utilized to treat breast cancers.