Poster ()- #SCSOT23 - KEYWORDS: UCP2 WNT Signaling Glucose Metabolism rtPCR Array Cancer

HIGHLY EXPRESSED UCP2 ENHANCES GLUCOSE METABOLISM THROUGH WNT SIGNALING

N.A. Jacquet, D.W. Frierson, and Y. Zhao
Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience, LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport

ABSTRACT:
Uncoupling protein 2 (UPC2) is an inner mitochondrial membrane protein that acts as an anion/ion transporter. UPC2 is often highly expressed and plays two roles in cancer: functioning as a protective mechanism against oxidative stress and chemotherapy; and promoting cancer metabolism for cancer growth and progression. UCP2 overexpression also plays a key role in cellular metabolism during cell transformation. JB6 is a cell line of mouse epidermal cells that were used for cell transformation. Upregulation of UCP2 within these cells resulted in enhanced glycolysis. To identify the underlying mechanism, glucose PCR array analysis was performed using mRNA extracted from control and UCP2 overexpressed JB6 cells. Our data found that 18 genes were upregulated and 6 were downregulated. Quite a few of these genes were found to belong to the Wnt signaling, which include the Frizzled, Wnt, and DVL gene families. These data suggest UCP2 may regulate glucose metabolisms through Wnt signaling.