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Fructose consumption in humans and animals has been linked to enhanced de novo lipogenesis, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Hereditary deficiency of ketohexokinase (KHK), the first enzymatic step in fructose metabolism, leads to essential fructosuria in humans, characterized by elevated levels of blood and urinary fructose following fructose ingestion but is otherwise clinically benign. To address whether KHK deficiency is associated with altered glucose and lipid metabolism, a Khk knockout (KO) mouse line was generated and characterized. NMR spectroscopic analysis of plasma following ingestion of [6-13C] fructose revealed striking differences in biomarkers of fructose metabolism. Significantly elevated urine and plasma 13C-fructose levels were observed in Khk KO vs. wild-type (WT) control mice, as was reduced conversion of 13C-fructose into plasma 13C-glucose and 13C-lactate. In addition, the observation of significant levels of fructose-6-phosphate in skeletal muscle tissue of Khk KO, but not WT, mice suggests a potential mechanism, whereby fructose is metabolized via muscle hexokinase in the absence of KHK. Khk KO mice on a standard chow diet displayed no metabolic abnormalities with respect to ambient glucose, glucose tolerance, body weight, food intake, and circulating trigylcerides, β-hydroxybutyrate, and lactate. When placed on a high-fat and high-fructose (HF/HFruc) diet, Khk KO mice had markedly reduced liver weight, triglyceride levels, and insulin levels. Together, these results suggest that Khk KO mice may serve as a good model for essential fructosuria in humans and that inhibition of KHK offers the potential to protect from diet-induced hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance.

Physical activity promotes metabolic and cardiovascular health benefits that derive in part from the transcriptional responses to exercise that occur within skeletal muscle and other organs. There is interest in discovering a pharmacologic exercise mimetic that could imbue wellness and alleviate disease burden. However, the molecular physiology by which exercise signals the transcriptional response is highly complex, making it challenging to identify a single target for pharmacological mimicry. The current studies evaluated the transcriptome responses in skeletal muscle, heart, liver, and white and brown adipose to novel small molecule activators of AMPK (pan-activators for all AMPK isoforms) compared to that of exercise. A striking level of congruence between exercise and pharmacological AMPK activation was observed across the induced transcriptome of these five tissues. However, differences in acute metabolic response between exercise and pharmacologic AMPK activation were observed, notably for acute glycogen balances and related to the energy expenditure induced by exercise but not pharmacologic AMPK activation. Nevertheless, intervention with repeated daily administration of short-acting activation of AMPK was found to mitigate hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia in four rodent models of metabolic disease and without the cardiac glycogen accretion noted with sustained pharmacologic AMPK activation. These findings affirm that activation of AMPK is a key node governing exercise mediated transcription and is an attractive target as an exercise mimetic.

International audience; Mutations of the AMP-activated kinase gamma 2 subunit (AMPKγ2), N488I (AMPKγ2NI) and R531G (AMPKγ2RG), are associated with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, a cardiac disorder characterized by ventricular pre-excitation in humans. Cardiac-specific transgenic overexpression of human AMPKγ2NI or AMPKγ2RG leads to constitutive AMPK activation and the WPW phenotype in mice. However, overexpression of these mutant proteins also caused profound, non-physiological increase in cardiac glycogen, which might abnormally alter the true phenotype. To investigate whether physiological levels of AMPKγ2NI or AMPKγ2RG mutation cause WPW syndrome and metabolic changes in other organs, we generated two knock-in mouse lines on the C57BL/6N background harboring mutations of human AMPKγ2NI and AMPKγ2RG, respectively. Similar to the reported phenotypes of mice overexpressing AMPKγ2NI or AMPKγ2RG in the heart, both lines developed WPW syndrome and cardiac hypertrophy; however, these effects were independent of cardiac glycogen accumulation. Compared with AMPKγ2WT mice, AMPKγ2NI and AMPKγ2RG mice exhibited reduced body weight, fat mass, and liver steatosis when fed with a high fat diet (HFD). Surprisingly, AMPKγ2RG but not AMPKγ2NI mice fed with an HFD exhibited severe kidney injury characterized by glycogen accumulation, inflammation, apoptosis, cyst formation, and impaired renal function. These results demonstrate that expression of AMPKγ2NI and AMPKγ2RG mutations at physiological levels can induce beneficial metabolic effects but that this is accompanied by WPW syndrome. Our data also reveal an unexpected effect of AMPKγ2RG in the kidney, linking lifelong constitutive activation of AMPK to a potential risk for kidney dysfunction in the context of an HFD.

Hitting a dozen enzymes with one drug The adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) controls cellular energy status. AMPK is activated when energy levels fall. This stimulates adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-generating pathways that promote glucose uptake and inhibits ATP-consuming pathways associated with glucose synthesis. In principle, these effects would be beneficial in metabolic diseases, including diabetes. Pharmacological activation of AMPK has been challenging, however, because in mammals, the enzyme exists as 12 distinct complexes. Myers et al. describe an orally available compound (MK-8722) that activates all 12 complexes (see the Perspective by Hardie). In animal models, MK-8722 ameliorated diabetes, but it also caused enlargement of the heart. MK-8722 may be a useful tool compound for laboratory research on AMPK function. Science , this issue p. 507 ; see also p. 455

Glucagon and insulin have opposing action in governing glucose homeostasis. In type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), plasma glucagon is characteristically elevated, contributing to increased gluconeogenesis and hyperglycemia. Therefore, glucagon receptor (GCGR) antagonism has been proposed as a pharmacologic approach to treat T2DM. In support of this concept, a potent small-molecule GCGR antagonist (GRA), MK-0893, demonstrated dose-dependent efficacy to reduce hyperglycemia, with an HbA1c reduction of 1.5% at the 80 mg dose for 12 weeks in T2DM. However, GRA treatment was associated with dose-dependent elevation of plasma LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c). The current studies investigated the cause for increased LDL-c. We report findings that link MK-0893 with increased glucagon-like peptide 2 and cholesterol absorption. There was not, however, a GRA-related modulation of cholesterol synthesis. These findings were replicated using structurally diverse GRAs. To examine potential pharmacologic mitigation, coadministration of ezetimibe (a potent inhibitor of cholesterol absorption) in mice abrogated the GRA-associated increase of LDL-c. Although the molecular mechanism is unknown, our results provide a novel finding by which glucagon and, hence, GCGR antagonism govern cholesterol metabolism.

Purpose: Cell cycle regulatory components are interesting targets for cancer therapy. Expression of pRb, cyclin D1, cdk4, cyclin E, cdk2, E2F1 and DP-1 was determined in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 breast carcinoma cells, H460 and Calu-6 non-small cell lung carcinoma cells, H82 and SW2 small cell lung carcinoma cells, HCT116 and HT29 colon carcinoma cells and LNCaP and DU-145 prostate carcinoma cells. Methods: For Western blotting, the ratio with actin expression was used to normalize the data; all lines were run on the same gels. Results: In cell culture, pRb was not detected in MB-468 and H82 was low in SW2 and DU-145 and highest in HCT116; in tumors, pRb was not detected in MB-468, H82, SW2, and DU-145 and was highest in LNCaP and Calu-6. Cyclin D1 was not detected in SW2 cells in culture, was low in MB-468 and H82, and was highest in LNCaP and H460; in tumors, cyclin D1 was low in MB-468, H460, SW2 and DU145, and was highest in LNCaP. In cell culture, cdk4 was lowest in Calu-6, HCT116, HT29 and DU-145 and highest in H82 and SW2; in tumors, cdk4 was low in MCF-7, MB-468, H460, Calu-6 and HCT116 and was very high in the SW2. Expression of cyclin E was very low in MCF-7 and HT29 and high in H460 in culture and was very low in MCF-7, H460, Calu-6, H82, HT29 and DU-145 in tumors and high in HCT116 and LNCaP. In cell culture, E2F1 was lowest in MB-468, Calu-6, HT29 and DU-145 cells and highest in LNCaP cells; in tumors, E2F1 was lowest in MCF-7, MB-468 and Calu-6 and highest in LNCaP. In cell culture, DP-1 was lowest in MB-468, HCT116 and HT29 and highest in SW2. The MCF-7 and MB-468 lines were most resistant to flavopiridol and olmoucine and the H460 and Calu-6 lines were most resistant to genistein. The SW2 tumor was most responsive to flavopiridol and olomoucine. Conclusions: There is a high degree of variability in the expression of cell cycle components in human tumor cell lines, resulting in complexity in predicting response to cell cycle directed agents.

Liver cancer and gastric cancer are the most common solid tumors worldwide. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) production and lack of response to TGF-beta growth inhibitory effects have been associated with tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. HepG2, Hep3B, and SK-HEP-1 human liver cancer lines produce 3, 5.7, and 2.5 ng TGF-beta1; 1.4, 2, and 4 ng TGF-beta2 and 0.15, 0.2 and 0.22 ng TGF-beta3 per 107 cells (24 h). Expression of the TGF-beta type I receptor is 20x, 1x, and 0.6x the level in mink lung MvLu1 cells in the HepG2, Hep3B, and SK-HEP-1 cells, respectively. HepG2 and Hep3B cells do not express the TGF-beta type II receptor while SK-HEP-1 cells express 7x the level found in mink lung MvLu1 cells. Hs 746T, KATO III, RF-1, and RF-48 human gastric cancer cell lines produce 12. 5, 0.35, 0.4, and 0.4 ng TGF-beta1; 2.6, 0.95, 0.5, and 0.52 ng TGF-beta2 and 0.42, 0.17, 0.12, and 0.14 ng TGF-beta3 per 107 cells (24 h). Expression of TGF-beta type I receptor is 0.7x, 0.7x, 0.8x, 0.6x the level in mink lung MvLu1 cells in the Hs 746T, KATO III, RF-1 and RF-48 cells, respectively. KATO III cells are lacking in the TGF-beta type II receptor while Hs 746T, RF-1 and RF-48 cells express 10x, 0.8x, and 1x the levels in mink lung MvLu1 cells. The IC50 for TGF-beta1 is >>10 ng/ml in all of these lines except RF-48 where TGF-beta1 is mitogenic. The response of the cell lines to radiation, doxorubicin, mitomycin C, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, methotrexate, and gemcitabine showed that SK-HEP-1 was the most drug resistant liver cancer cell line and KATO III was the most drug resistant gastric cancer cell line. Overall, there was no correlation between TGF-beta secretion in cell culture and sensitivity of the cells to anticancer agents. Increased TGF-beta1 levels were detectable in the plasma of nude mice bearing Hep3B and Hs 746T xenografts. Those tumors which secreted greater amounts of TGF-beta were more therapeutically resistant in vivo.