The relationship between hypoglycemia-inducing O-GlcNAcylation and epithelial mesenchymal transition.

Most cancer cells need more glucose. Because they produce energy by fermentation, even though they exist in the presence of oxygen. Cancer cell can escape a poor environment like hypoxia and under nutrition condition. Considering this fact, It is deducible that hypoglycemia affect cancer metastasis. But the research about cancer metastasis has been limited to hypoxia condition until now. Interestingly, it was reported that O-GlcNAc modification on protein was increased under hypoglycemic condition. And it was thought that O-GlcNAcylation is related with EMT. In our study, we want to examine whether hypoglycemic condition can induce cancer metastasis and it is related to increased O-GlcNAc modification or not. So we focused on EMT to visualize cancer metastasis. We found that the amount of several EMT marker were changed under hypoglycemic condition in cancer cell. And it was mitigated by OGT knock down. These findings tell us that hypoglycemic condition can be closely connected with cancer metastasis via O-GlcNAclation. So we suggest possibilities that hypoglycemic condition induced EMT in cancer cell and it related with increased O-GlcNAc modification.