Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Apr 29;486(2):224-231.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2017.02.101. Epub 2017 Feb 22.

Branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) promotes the growth of breast cancer cells through improving mTOR-mediated mitochondrial biogenesis and function

Ling Zhang  1 , Junqing Han  2
Affiliations

Branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) promotes the growth of breast cancer cells through improving mTOR-mediated mitochondrial biogenesis and function

Ling Zhang et al. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. .

Abstract

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are important nutrient signals that have direct and indirect effects. BCAA catabolism is a conserved regulator of physiological aging and participates in diverse physiological and pathological processes, including carcinoma development. The roles of BCAA catabolism in human breast cancer remains unknown. Here we provide evidence that BCAA catabolism is involved in human breast cancer. The plasma and tissue levels of BCAAs are increased in breast cancer, which is accompanied by the elevated expression of the catabolic enzymes, including branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1). Knockdown of BCAT1 represses the growth rate and colony formation capacity of breast cancer cells, opposing results are observed when BCAT1 is overexpressed. BCAT1 can promote mitochondrial biogenesis, ATP production and repress mitochondrial ROS in breast cancer cells by regulating the expression of related genes. Mechanism study reveals that BCAT1 activates the mTOR, but not AMPK or SIRT1, signaling to promote mitochondrial biogenesis and function, and subsequently facilitates growth and colony formation of breast cancer cells. Taken together, we demonstrate that BCAA catabolism is activated in human breast cancer, and abolishment of BCAA catabolism by knocking down BCAT1 inhibits breast cancer cell growth by repressing mTOR-mediated mitochondrial biogenesis and function.

Keywords: BCAT1; Branched-chain amino acid; Breast cancer; Mitochondrial biogenesis; mTOR.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources