Time: March 11, 14:00 - 15:00

Venue: Lecture Hall of IASM

Organizers: Yongbin Ruan, Deli Huang, Tao Yin, Hai Song

Speaker: 吕志民Zhimin Lu (Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University)

Abstract: We elucidated instrumental mechanisms of the Warburg effect, discovered the protein kinase and phosphatase activity of metabolic enzymes, and revealed the non-metabolic functions of metabolic enzymes in tumorigenesis. (1) Our work elucidated important mechanisms underlying the RTK-promoted Warburg effect, which are regulated by nuclear function of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) and mitochondrial function of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1). (2) We discovered that metabolic enzymes (PKM2, PGK1, PCK1, HK2, PI3K, and fructokinase KHK-A) can function as protein kinases to regulates cell cycle progression, mitochondrial function, autophagy, and de novo nucleic acid synthesis. (3) We discovered for the first time that metabolic enzymes can function as protein phosphatase. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1) dephosphorylates histone H3 and TERT and suppresses gene transcription. (4) Our work revealed that metabolic enzymes, including fumarase, acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2), and a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (KGDH) can possess nonmetabolic functions in regulation of instrumental cellular activities including DNA repair and gene expression. The discoverers of tumor-promoting functions of metabolic enzymes provide novel approaches for diagnosis and treatment of human cancer.