Overexpression of Ecdysoneless in Pancreatic Cancer and its Role in Oncogenesis by Regulating Glycolysis

Purpose: To study the expression and function of a novel cell-cycle regulatory protein, human ecdysoneless (Ecd), during pancreatic cancer pathogenesis. Experimental Design: Immunohistochemical expression profiling of Ecd was done in nonneoplastic normal pancreatic tissues and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma lesions (from tissue microarray and Rapid Autopsy program) as well as precancerous PanIN lesions and metastatic organs. To analyze the biological significance of Ecd in pancreatic cancer progression, Ecd was stably knocked down in pancreatic cancer cell line followed by i n vitro and in vivo functional assays. Results: Normal pancreatic ducts showed very weak to no Ecd expression compared to significant positive expression in pancreatic cancer tissues (mean ± SE composite score: 0.3 ± 0.2 and 3.8 ± 0.2 respectively, P in vitro and tumorigenicity of pancreatic cancer cells in mice orthotopic tumors. Microarray study revealed that Ecd regulates expression of glucose transporter GLUT4 in pancreatic cancer cells and was subsequently shown to modulate glucose uptake, lactate production, and ATP generation by pancreatic cancer cells. Finally, knockdown of Ecd also reduced level of pAkt, key signaling molecule known to regulate aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. Conclusion: Ecd is a novel tumor-promoting factor that is differentially expressed in pancreatic cancer and potentially regulates glucose metabolism within cancer cells. Clin Cancer Res; 1–11. ©2012 AACR .