Functional metabolic molecules were identified as novel therapeutic targets to facilitate gemcitabine treatment against pancreatic cancer (Cells metabolomics)

ABSTRACT: With the development of frontier technologies in system biology, traditional omics-drove phenotypic studies are insufficient to decipher the diseases. Therefore, for a thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms of diseases to investigate novel drug targets, traditional phenotypic studies must be broken through to the functional exploration of molecules. Meanwhile, the intuitive role of small molecule compounds (metabolites) in pathogenesis, precision diagnosis and therapy are gradually recognized compared to macromolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. Therefore, we pioneeringly proposed Spatial Temporal Operative Real Metabolomics (STORM) strategy that established a relationship between metabolic phenotypes and functions to accurately character abnormal metabolisms and further identify operative functional molecules as novel therapeutic targets. Here, given the difficulty of pancreatic cancer (PC) treatment and the high resistance of clinical drugs, we were committed to explore new targets and drugs of pancreatic cancer from a small molecular functional perspective via STORM strategy. Fortunately, based on targeted metabolomics, we found that gemcitabine, one of the most effective clinical anti-PC drugs, served as a dual modulator that promote the accumulation of functional metabolic molecules in purine metabolism to activate down-streamed kinases. And the quantitative consequences of related enzymes annotated the unique molecular mechanisms of purine metabolism regulations by gemcitabine. Collectively, we broadened the cognitions of gemcitabine in tumor inhibition, providing potential strategies for treating PC with small molecules modification. Even more importantly, with the integration of multiple frontier technologies, the STORM strategy has proven to be well adapted to the phenotypic era of functional molecules devoted to innovate molecule mechanism annotation and therapeutic discovery.

ORGANISM(S): Human Homo Sapiens

TISSUE(S): Cultured Cells

DISEASE(S): Cancer

SUBMITTER: Haitao Lu  

PROVIDER: ST002122 | MetabolomicsWorkbench | Fri Mar 25 00:00:00 GMT 2022

REPOSITORIES: MetabolomicsWorkbench