Impact of 2-deoxy-D-glucose on the target metabolome profile of a human endometrial cancer cell line.

2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) has been clinically evaluated for its potential use as an anticancer drug. Although 2DG is generally thought to inhibit the glycolytic pathway through accumulation of 2-deoxy-D-glucose-6-phosphate (2DG6P), it may also interfere with various other biological processes. Here, to further understand the role of 2DG as an inhibitor of tumor progression, we assessed the metabolism of 2DG in a human endometrial cancer cell line using capillary electrophoresis-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOFMS). A total of 113 target metabolite peaks were identified and 90 metabolites of them were quantified. Furthermore, we present a new methodology which uses CE-TOFMS metabolome profiling following introduction of an artificial metabolite to evaluate tumor-specific metabolite traces. Aside from 2DG6P, we detected the presence of unique 2DG-derived deoxy metabolites in 2DG-treated cells. These metabolites may be responsible for the alteration of global metabolism in cells and act as various biological effectors.