Dual regulation of energy metabolism by p53 in human cervix and breast cancer cells

•In normoxia, p53 up-regulates tumor OxPhos without affecting glycolysis.•In hypoxia, p53 severely down-regulates OxPhos whereas weakly affects glycolysis.•Dual and contrasting p53 role in cancer energy metabolism depends on the O2 level.

The role of p53 as modulator of OxPhos and glycolysis was analyzed in HeLa-L (cells containing negligible p53 protein levels) and HeLa-H (p53-overexpressing) human cervix cancer cells under normoxia and hypoxia. In normoxia, functional p53, mitochondrial enzyme contents, mitochondrial electrical potential (ΔΨm) and OxPhos flux increased in HeLa-H vs. HeLa-L cells; whereas their glycolytic enzyme contents and glycolysis flux were unchanged. OxPhos provided more than 70% of the cellular ATP and proliferation was abolished by anti-mitochondrial drugs in HeLa-H cells. In hypoxia, both cell proliferations were suppressed, but HeLa-H cells exhibited a significant decrease in OxPhos protein contents, ΔΨm and OxPhos flux. Although glycolytic function was also diminished vs. HeLa-L cells in hypoxia, glycolysis provided more than 60% of cellular ATP in HeLa-H cells. The energy metabolism phenotype of HeLa-H cells was reverted to that of HeLa-L cells by incubating with pifithrin-α, a p53-inhibitor. In normoxia, the energy metabolism phenotype of breast cancer MCF-7 cells was similar to that of HeLa-H cells, whereas p53shRNAMCF-7 cells resembled the HeLa-L cell phenotype. In hypoxia, autophagy proteins and lysosomes contents increased 2–5 times in HeLa-H cells suggesting mitophagy activation. These results indicated that under normoxia p53 up-regulated OxPhos without affecting glycolysis, whereas under hypoxia, p53 down-regulated both OxPhos (severely) and glycolysis (weakly). These p53 effects appeared mediated by the formation of p53-HIF-1α complexes. Therefore, p53 exerts a dual and contrasting regulatory role on cancer energy metabolism, depending on the O2 level.

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