Inhibition of glucose transport synergizes with chemical or genetic disruption of mitochondrial metabolism and suppresses TCA cycle-deficient tumors. Author Kellen Olszewski, Anthony Barsotti, Xiao-Jiang Feng, Milica Momcilovic, Kevin Liu, Ji-In Kim, Koi Morris, Christophe Lamarque, Jack Gaffney, Xuemei Yu, Jeegar Patel, Joshua Rabinowitz, David Shackelford, Masha Poyurovsky V Publication Year 2022 Type Journal Article Abstract Efforts to target glucose metabolism in cancer have been limited by the poor potency and specificity of existing anti-glycolytic agents and a poor understanding of the glucose dependence of cancer subtypes in vivo. Here, we present an extensively characterized series of potent, orally bioavailable inhibitors of the class I glucose transporters (GLUTs). The representative compound KL-11743 specifically blocks glucose metabolism, triggering an acute collapse in NADH pools and a striking accumulation of aspartate, indicating a dramatic shift toward oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria. Disrupting mitochondrial metabolism via chemical inhibition of electron transport, deletion of the malate-aspartate shuttle component GOT1, or endogenous mutations in tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes, causes synthetic lethality with KL-11743. Patient-derived xenograft models of succinate dehydrogenase A (SDHA)-deficient cancers are specifically sensitive to KL-11743, providing direct evidence that TCA cycle-mutant tumors are vulnerable to GLUT inhibitors in vivo. Keywords Glucose, Humans, Aspartic Acid, Neoplasms, Citric Acid Cycle, Mitochondria Journal Cell Chem Biol Volume 29 Issue 3 Pages 423-435.e10 Date Published 03/2022 ISSN Number 2451-9448 DOI 10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.10.007 Alternate Journal Cell Chem Biol PMID 34715056 PubMedGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML