Inhibition of glucose-transporter 1 (GLUT-1) expression reversed Warburg effect in gastric cancer cell MKN45.

Glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1) plays critical roles in cancer development and progression. Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis) contributes greatly to tumorigenesis and could be targeted for tumor therapy. However, published data on the relationship between GLUT-1 and Warburg effect are scarce. In this study, gastric cancer cell, MKN45, was transfected with GLUT-1 shRNA using Lipofectamine 2000. Oxygen consumption, LDH activity, lactate production and cytoplasmic pyruvate were detected after MKN45 cells with GLUT-1 knockdown. In the last, hexokinase 1 (HK1), HK2, and pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) expression were detected by using western blot. In this study, we showed that inhibition of GLUT-1 expression reversed Warburg effect in MKN45 cells, and induced apoptosis.