The Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment Compensates for Loss of GOT2

The tumor microenvironment (TME) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) restricts vascularization and, consequently, access to blood-derived nutrients and oxygen, which impacts tumor growth. Intracellular redox imbalance is another restraint on cellular proliferation, yet it is unknown if the TME contributes to the maintenance of redox homeostasis in PDA cells. Here, we demonstrate that the loss of mitochondrial glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase 2 (GOT2), a component in the malate-aspartate shuttle, disturbs redox homeostasis and halts proliferation of PDA cells in vitro. In contrast, GOT2 inhibition has no effect on in vivo tumor growth or tumorigenesis in an autochthonous model. We propose that this discrepancy is explained by heterocellular pyruvate exchange from the TME, including from cancer associated fibroblasts. More broadly, pyruvate similarly confers resistance to inhibitors of mitochondrial respiration. Genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of pyruvate uptake or metabolism abrogated pyruvate-mediated alleviation of reductive stress from NADH buildup. In sum, this work describes a potential resistance mechanism mediated by metabolic crosstalk within the pancreatic TME. These findings have important implications for metabolic treatment strategies since several mitochondrial inhibitors are currently in clinical trials for PDA and other cancers.