Untargeted and stable isotope-assisted metabolomic analysis of MDA-MB-231 cells under hypoxia

Introduction: Hypoxia commonly occurs in cancers and is highly related with the occurrence, development and metastasis of cancer. Treatment of triple negative breast cancer remains challenge. Knowledge about the metabolic status of triple negative breast cancer cell lines in hypoxia is valuable for the understanding of molecular mechanisms of this tumor subtype to develop effective therapeutics. Objectives: Comprehensively characterize the metabolic profiles of triple negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 in normoxia and hypoxia and the pathways involved in metabolic changes in hypoxia. Methods: Differences in metabolic profiles affected pathways of MDA-MB-231 cells in normoxia and hypoxia were characterized using GC–MS based untargeted and stable isotope assisted metabolomic techniques. Results: Thirty-three metabolites were significantly changed in hypoxia and nine pathways were involved. Hypoxia increased glycolysis, inhibited TCA cycle, pentose phosphate pathway and pyruvate carboxylation, while increased glutaminolysis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Conclusion: The current results provide metabolic differences of MDA-MB-231 cells in normoxia and hypoxia conditions as well as the involved metabolic pathways, demonstrating the power of combined use of untargeted and stable isotope-assisted metabolomic methods in comprehensive metabolomic analysis.