Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae

Fructose and lactate are present in high concentrations in uterine luminal fluid, fetal fluids and fetal blood of ungulates and cetaceans, but their roles have been ignored and they have been considered waste products of pregnancy. This review provides evidence for key roles of both fructose and lac...

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Main Authors: Fuller W. Bazer, Guoyao Wu, Gregory A. Johnson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-10-01
Series:Experimental Biology and Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ebm-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ebm.2024.10200/full
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author Fuller W. Bazer
Guoyao Wu
Gregory A. Johnson
author_facet Fuller W. Bazer
Guoyao Wu
Gregory A. Johnson
author_sort Fuller W. Bazer
collection DOAJ
description Fructose and lactate are present in high concentrations in uterine luminal fluid, fetal fluids and fetal blood of ungulates and cetaceans, but their roles have been ignored and they have been considered waste products of pregnancy. This review provides evidence for key roles of both fructose and lactate in support of key metabolic pathways required for growth and development of fetal-placental tissues, implantation and placentation. The uterus and placenta of ungulates convert glucose to fructose via the polyol pathway. Fructose is sequestered within the uterus and cannot be transported back into the maternal circulation. Fructose is phosphorylated by ketohexokinase to fructose-1-PO4 (F1P) by that is metabolized via the fructolysis pathway to yield dihydoxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-PO4 that are downstream of phosphofructokinase. Thus, there is no inhibition of the fructolysis pathway by low pH, citrate or ATP which allows F1P to continuously generate substrates for the pentose cycle, hexosamine biosynthesis pathway, one-carbon metabolism and tricarboxylic acid cycle, as well as lactate. Lactate sustains the activity of hypoxia-inducible factor alpha and its downstream targets such as vascular endothelial growth factor to increase utero-placental blood flow critical to growth and development of the fetal-placental tissues and a successful outcome of pregnancy. Pregnancy has been referred to as a controlled cancer and this review addresses similarities regarding metabolic aspects of tumors and the placenta.
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spelling doaj-art-d68a411a98de4e3c8bf1faa525292a272025-08-20T02:11:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Experimental Biology and Medicine1535-36992024-10-0124910.3389/ebm.2024.1020010200Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentaeFuller W. Bazer0Guoyao Wu1Gregory A. Johnson2Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United StatesDepartment of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United StatesDepartment of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United StatesFructose and lactate are present in high concentrations in uterine luminal fluid, fetal fluids and fetal blood of ungulates and cetaceans, but their roles have been ignored and they have been considered waste products of pregnancy. This review provides evidence for key roles of both fructose and lactate in support of key metabolic pathways required for growth and development of fetal-placental tissues, implantation and placentation. The uterus and placenta of ungulates convert glucose to fructose via the polyol pathway. Fructose is sequestered within the uterus and cannot be transported back into the maternal circulation. Fructose is phosphorylated by ketohexokinase to fructose-1-PO4 (F1P) by that is metabolized via the fructolysis pathway to yield dihydoxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-PO4 that are downstream of phosphofructokinase. Thus, there is no inhibition of the fructolysis pathway by low pH, citrate or ATP which allows F1P to continuously generate substrates for the pentose cycle, hexosamine biosynthesis pathway, one-carbon metabolism and tricarboxylic acid cycle, as well as lactate. Lactate sustains the activity of hypoxia-inducible factor alpha and its downstream targets such as vascular endothelial growth factor to increase utero-placental blood flow critical to growth and development of the fetal-placental tissues and a successful outcome of pregnancy. Pregnancy has been referred to as a controlled cancer and this review addresses similarities regarding metabolic aspects of tumors and the placenta.https://www.ebm-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ebm.2024.10200/fullglucosefructoselactatepregnancytumor biologyplacenta
spellingShingle Fuller W. Bazer
Guoyao Wu
Gregory A. Johnson
Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
Experimental Biology and Medicine
glucose
fructose
lactate
pregnancy
tumor biology
placenta
title Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
title_full Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
title_fullStr Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
title_full_unstemmed Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
title_short Fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
title_sort fructose metabolism is unregulated in cancers and placentae
topic glucose
fructose
lactate
pregnancy
tumor biology
placenta
url https://www.ebm-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ebm.2024.10200/full
work_keys_str_mv AT fullerwbazer fructosemetabolismisunregulatedincancersandplacentae
AT guoyaowu fructosemetabolismisunregulatedincancersandplacentae
AT gregoryajohnson fructosemetabolismisunregulatedincancersandplacentae