Metabolic Reprogramming Induced by Aging Modifies the Tumor Microenvironment
Xingyu Chen,
Zihan Wang,
Bo Zhu,
Min Deng,
Jiayue Qiu,
Yunwen Feng,
Ning Ding,
Chen Huang
Affiliations
Xingyu Chen
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Zihan Wang
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Bo Zhu
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Min Deng
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR 999078, China
Jiayue Qiu
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Yunwen Feng
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Ning Ding
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Chen Huang
Dr. Neher’s Biophysics Laboratory for Innovative Drug Discovery, State Kay Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine & Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
Aging is an important risk factor for tumorigenesis. Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of both aging and tumor initiation. However, the manner in which the crosstalk between aging and metabolic reprogramming affects the tumor microenvironment (TME) to promote tumorigenesis was poorly explored. We utilized a computational approach proposed by our previous work, MMP3C (Modeling Metabolic Plasticity by Pathway Pairwise Comparison), to characterize aging-related metabolic plasticity events using pan-cancer bulk RNA-seq data. Our analysis revealed a high degree of metabolically organized heterogeneity across 17 aging-related cancer types. In particular, a higher degree of several energy generation pathways, i.e., glycolysis and impaired oxidative phosphorylation, was observed in older patients. Similar phenomena were also found via single-cell RNA-seq analysis. Furthermore, those energy generation pathways were found to be weakened in activated T cells and macrophages, whereas they increased in exhausted T cells, immunosuppressive macrophages, and Tregs in older patients. It was suggested that aging-induced metabolic switches alter glucose utilization, thereby influencing immune function and resulting in the remodeling of the TME. This work offers new insights into the associations between tumor metabolism and the TME mediated by aging, linking with novel strategies for cancer therapy.
