Perrin-Cocon, Laure, Vidalain, Pierre-Olivier, Jacquemin, Clémence, Aublin-Gex, Anne, Olmstead, Keedrian, Panthu, Baptiste, Rautureau, Gilles Jeans Philippe, André, Patrice, Nyczka, Piotr, Hütt, Marc-Thorsten, Amoedo, Nivea, Rossignol, Rodrigue, Filipp, Fabian Volker, Lotteau, Vincent, Diaz, Olivier, Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie - UMR (CIRI), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Helmholtz-Zentrum München (HZM), Cardiovasculaire, métabolisme, diabétologie et nutrition (CarMeN), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Centre de RMN à très hauts champs de Lyon (CRMN), École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Jacobs University [Bremen], Centre Génomique Fonctionnelle Bordeaux [Bordeaux] (CGFB), Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux-Université de Bordeaux Ségalen [Bordeaux 2], Laboratoire Maladies Rares: Génétique et Métabolisme (Bordeaux) (U1211 INSERM/MRGM), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Groupe hospitalier Pellegrin-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Technische Universität München [München] (TUM), Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, Helmholtz Zentrum München Institute of Computational Biology Neuherberg, Germany, Cellomet [CHU Pellegrin, Bordeaux], CHU de Bordeaux Pellegrin [Bordeaux], Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Helmholtz Zentrum München = German Research Center for Environmental Health, Technische Universität Munchen - Université Technique de Munich [Munich, Allemagne] (TUM), Admin, Oskar, Vidalain, Pierre-Olivier, Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), and Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
During the cancerous transformation of normal hepatocytes into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the enzyme catalyzing the first rate-limiting step of glycolysis, namely the glucokinase (GCK), is replaced by the higher affinity isoenzyme, hexokinase 2 (HK2). Here, we show that in HCC tumors the highest expression level of HK2 is inversely correlated to GCK expression, and is associated to poor prognosis for patient survival. To further explore functional consequences of the GCK-to-HK2 isoenzyme switch occurring during carcinogenesis, HK2 was knocked-out in the HCC cell line Huh7 and replaced by GCK, to generate the Huh7-GCK+/HK2− cell line. HK2 knockdown and GCK expression rewired central carbon metabolism, stimulated mitochondrial respiration and restored essential metabolic functions of normal hepatocytes such as lipogenesis, VLDL secretion, glycogen storage. It also reactivated innate immune responses and sensitivity to natural killer cells, showing that consequences of the HK switch extend beyond metabolic reprogramming., Many cancers fuel their rapid growth by replacing glucokinase with its higher affinity isoenzyme, hexokinase 2 (HK2), making HK2 an attractive drug target. In this study, Perrin-Cocon and Vidalain et al. use CRISPR/Cas-9 gene editing to reverse this enzymatic switch in human liver cancer cells, and find this restores innate immune function as well as reversing cancer-associated metabolic reprogramming.