Silencing of Glut1 induces chemoresistance via modulation of Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin/survivin signaling pathway in breast cancer cells.

Cancer cells require increased aerobic glycolysis to support rapid cell proliferation. For their increased energy demands, cancer cells express glucose transporter (Glut) proteins at a high level. Glut1 is associated with basal-like breast cancer and is considered a potential therapeutic target. To investigate the possibility of Glut1 as a therapeutic target in breast cancer cells, we downregulated Glut1 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines using a short hairpin system. We determined whether Glut1 silencing might enhance anti-proliferative effect of chemotherapeutic agents. Contrary to our hypothesis, ablation of Glut1 attenuated apoptosis and increased drug resistance via upregulation of p-Akt/p-GSK-3β (Ser9)/β-catenin/survivin. These results indicated that the potential of Glut1 as a therapeutic target should be carefully reevaluated.