A unique feature of cancer cells is to convert glucose into lactate to produce cellular energy, even under the presence of oxygen. Called aerobic glycolysis [The Warburg Effect] it has been extensively studied and the concept of aerobic glycolysis in tumor cells is generally accepted. However, it is not clear if aerobic glycolysis in tumor cells is fixed, or can be reversed, especially under therapeutic stress conditions. Here, we report that mTOR, a critical regulator in cell proliferation, can be relocated to mitochondria, and as a result, enhances oxidative phosphorylation and reduces glycolysis. Three tumor cell lines (breast cancer MCF-7, colon cancer HCT116 and glioblastoma U87) showed a quick relocation of mTOR to mitochondria after irradiation with a single dose 5 Gy, which was companied with decreased lactate production, increased mitochondrial ATP generation and oxygen consumption. Inhibition of mTOR by rapamycin blocked radiation-induced mTOR mitochondrial relocation and the shift of glycolysis to mitochondrial respiration, and reduced the clonogenic survival. In irradiated cells, mTOR formed a complex with Hexokinase II [HK II], a key mitochondrial protein in regulation of glycolysis, causing reduced HK II enzymatic activity. These results support a novel mechanism by which tumor cells can quickly adapt to genotoxic conditions via mTOR-mediated reprogramming of bioenergetics from predominantly aerobic glycolysis to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Such a “waking-up” pathway for mitochondrial bioenergetics demonstrates a flexible feature in the energy metabolism of cancer cells, and may be required for additional cellular energy consumption for damage repair and survival. Thus, the reversible cellular energy metabolisms should be considered in blocking tumor metabolism and may be targeted to sensitize them in anti-cancer therapy.

Mammalian cells are able to sense environmental oxidative and genotoxic conditions such as the environmental low dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) present naturally on earth surface. The stressed cells then can induce a so-called radioadaptive response with an enhanced cellular homeostasis and repair capacity against subsequent similar genotoxic conditions such as a high dose radiation. MnSOD, a primary mitochondrial antioxidant in mammals, has long been known to play a crucial role in the radioadaptive protection through detoxifying O2·- generated by mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Contrasted to the well-studied mechanisms of SOD2 gene regulation, the mechanisms underlying post-translational regulation of MnSOD for radioprotection remain to be defined. Herein, we demonstrate that Cyclin D1-cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) serves as the messenger to deliver the stress signal to mitochondria to boost mitochondrial homeostasis in human skin keratinocytes under LDIR adaptive radioprotection. Cyclin D1/CDK4 is found to relocate to mitochondria at the same time as MnSOD enzymatic activation peaks without significant changes of total MnSOD protein level. The mitochondrial-localized CDK4 directly phosphorylates MnSOD at Serine 106 (S106), causing enhanced MnSOD enzymatic activity and mitochondrial respiration. Expression of mitochondria-targeted dominant negative CDK4 or the MnSOD-S106A mutant reverses LDIR-induced mitochondrial enhancement and adaptive protection. The CDK4-mediated MnSOD activation and mitochondrial metabolism boost are also detected in skin tissues of mice receiving in vivo whole body LDIR. These results demonstrate a unique CDK4-mediated mitochondrial communication that allows cells to sense environmental genotoxic stress and boost mitochondrial homeostasis via enhancing phosphorylation and activation of MnSOD.