2021-11-092021-11-092019-09-01Vella, V.; Nicolosi, M.L.; Giuliano, M.; Morrione, A.; Malaguarnera, R.; Belfiore, A. Insulin Receptor Isoform A Modulates Metabolic Reprogramming of Breast Cancer Cells in Response to IGF2 and Insulin Stimulation. Cells 2019, 8, 1017. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells80910172073-4409http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/7057http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/7077Previously published work has demonstrated that overexpression of the insulin receptor isoform A (IR-A) might play a role in cancer progression and metastasis. The IR has a predominant metabolic role in physiology, but the potential role of IR-A in cancer metabolic reprogramming is unknown. We aimed to characterize the metabolic impact of IR-A and its ligand insulin like growth factor 2 (IGF2) in human breast cancer (BC) cells. To establish autocrine IGF2 action, we generated human BC cells MCF7 overexpressing the human IGF2, while we focused on the metabolic effect of IR-A by stably infecting IGF1R-ablated MCF7 (MCF7IGF1R-ve) cells with a human IR-A cDNA. We then evaluated the expression of key metabolism related molecules and measured real-time extracellular acidification rates and oxygen consumption rates using the Seahorse technology. MCF7/IGF2 cells showed increased proliferation and invasion associated with aerobic glycolysis and mitochondrial biogenesis and activity. In MCF7IGF1R-ve/IR-A cells insulin and IGF2 stimulated similar metabolic changes and were equipotent in eliciting proliferative responses, while IGF2 more potently induced invasion. The combined treatment with the glycolysis inhibitor 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) and the mitochondrial inhibitor metformin blocked cell invasion and colony formation with additive effects. Overall, these results indicate that IGF2 and IR-A overexpression may contribute to BC metabolic reprogramming.26 pagesengAttribution CC BYhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Insulin receptor isoform AIGF2IGF1RMetabolic reprogrammingAerobic glycolysisMetabolic flexibilityBreast cancerText