Dual Starvations Induce Pyroptosis for Orthotopic Pancreatic Cancer Therapy through Simultaneous Deprivation of Glucose and Glutamine

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is a highly fatal disease, and existing treatment methods are ineffective, so it is urgent to develop new effective treatment strategies. The high dependence of pancreatic cancer cells on glucose and glutamine suggests that disrupting this dependency could serve as an alternative strategy for pancreatic cancer therapy. We identified the vital genes glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and alanine-serine-cysteine transporter 2 (ASCT2) through bioinformatics analysis, which regulate glucose and glutamine metabolism in pancreatic cancer, respectively. Human serum albumin nanoparticles (HSA NPs) for delivery of GLUT1 and ASCT2 inhibitors, BAY-876/V-9302@HSA NPs, were prepared by a self-assembly process. This nanodrug inhibits glucose and glutamine uptake of pancreatic cancer cells through the released BAY-876 and V-9302, leading to nutrition deprivation and oxidative stress. The inhibition of glutamine leads to the inhibition of the synthesis of the glutathione, which further aggravates oxidative stress. Both of them lead to a significant increase in reactive oxygen species, activating caspase 1 and GSDMD and finally inducing pyroptosis. This study provides a new effective strategy for orthotopic pancreatic cancer treatment by dual starvation-induced pyroptosis. The study for screening metabolic targets using bioinformatics analysis followed by constructing nanodrugs loaded with inhibitors will inspire future targeted metabolic therapy for pancreatic cancer.