Targeting lactate-fueled respiration selectively kills hypoxic tumor cells in mice

Tumors contain oxygenated and hypoxic regions, so the tumor cell population is heterogeneous. Hypoxic tumor cells primarily use glucose for glycolytic energy production and release lactic acid, creating a lactate gradient that mirrors the oxygen gradient in the tumor. By contrast, oxygenated tumor cells have been thought to primarily use glucose for oxidative energy production. Although lactate is generally considered a waste product, we now show that it is a prominent substrate that fuels the oxidative metabolism of oxygenated tumor cells. There is therefore a symbiosis in which glycolytic and oxidative tumor cells mutually regulate their access to energy metabolites. We identified monocarboxylate transporter…

• BA
  Belgian American Educational Foundation
• UC
  Université Catholique de Louvain
• FD
  Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
• FW
  Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: CA40355