Acquisition of cisplatin resistance shifts head and neck squamous cell carcinoma metabolism toward neutralization of oxidative stress

Wangjie Yu, Yunyun Chen, Nagireddy Putluri, Cristian Coarfa, Matthew J. Robertson, Vasanta Putluri, Fabio Stossi, Julien Dubrulle, Michael A. Mancini, Jonathan C. Pang, Trung Nguyen, Dodge Baluya, Jeffrey N. Myers, Stephen Y. Lai, Vlad C. Sandulache

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Cisplatin (CDDP) is commonly utilized in the treatment of advanced solid tumors including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Cisplatin response remains highly variable among individual tumors and development of cisplatin resistance is common. We hypothesized that development of cisplatin resistance is partially driven by metabolic reprogramming. Methods: Using a pre-clinical HNSCC model and an integrated approach to steady state metabolomics, metabolic flux and gene expression data we characterized the interaction between cisplatin resistance and metabolic reprogramming. Results: Cisplatin toxicity in HNSCC was driven by generation of intra-cellular oxidative stress. This was validated by demonstrating that acquisition of cisplatin resistance generates cross-resistance to ferroptosis agonists despite the fact that cisplatin itself does not trigger ferroptosis. Acquisition of cisplatin resistance dysregulated the expression of genes involved in amino acid, fatty acid metabolism and central carbon catabolic pathways, enhanced glucose catabolism and serine synthesis. Acute cisplatin exposure increased intra-tumoral levels of S-methyl-5-thiadenosine (MTA) precursors and metabotoxins indicative of generalized oxidative stress. Conclusions: Acquisition of cisplatin resistance is linked to metabolic recovery from oxidative stress. Although this portends poor effectiveness for directed metabolic targeting, it supports the potential for biomarker development of cisplatin effectiveness using an integrated approach.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1670
Pages (from-to)1-16
Number of pages16
JournalCancers
Volume12
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2020

Keywords

  • Amino acid
  • Cisplatin
  • Fatty acid
  • Ferroptosis
  • Head and neck cancer
  • Oxidative stress

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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