AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) is a sensor of cellular energy status that appears to have arisen during early eukaryotic evolution. In the unicellular eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the AMPK orthologue is activated by glucose starvation and is required for the switch from glycolysis (fermentation) to oxidative metabolism when glucose runs low. In mammals, rapidly proliferating cells (including tumour cells) and immune cells involved in inflammation both tend to utilize rapid glucose uptake and glycolysis (termed the Warburg effect or aerobic glycolysis) rather than oxidative metabolism to satisfy their high demand for ATP. Since mammalian AMPK, similar to its yeast orthologue, tends to promote the more energy-efficient oxidative metabolism at the expense of glycolysis, it might be expected that drugs that activate AMPK would inhibit cell proliferation and and hence cancer, as well as exerting anti-inflammatory effects. Evidence supporting this view is discussed, including our findings that AMPK is activated by the classic anti-inflammatory drug salicylate.
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March 21 2013
AMPK: opposing the metabolic changes in both tumour cells and inflammatory cells? Available to Purchase
Madhumita Dandapani;
Madhumita Dandapani
1College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dow Street, Dundee DD1 5EH, Scotland, U.K.
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D. Grahame Hardie
D. Grahame Hardie
1
1College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dow Street, Dundee DD1 5EH, Scotland, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email[email protected]).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
December 07 2012
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2013 Biochemical Society
2013
Biochem Soc Trans (2013) 41 (2): 687–693.
Article history
Received:
December 07 2012
Citation
Madhumita Dandapani, D. Grahame Hardie; AMPK: opposing the metabolic changes in both tumour cells and inflammatory cells?. Biochem Soc Trans 1 April 2013; 41 (2): 687–693. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20120351
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