Tumor-Associated Mutant p53 Drives the Warburg Effect

Tumor cells primarily utilize aerobic glycolysis for energy production, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. Its mechanism is not well-understood. The tumor suppressor gene p53 is frequently mutated in tumors. Many tumor-associated mutant p53 (mutp53) proteins not only lose tumor suppressive function, but also gain new oncogenic functions that are independent of wild type p53, defined as mutp53 gain-of-function (GOF). Here we show that tumor-associated mutp53 stimulates the Warburg effect in cultured cells and mutp53 knock-in mice as a new mutp53 GOF. Mutp53 stimulates the Warburg effect through promoting GLUT1 translocation to plasma membrane, which is mediated by the activated RhoA and its downstream effector ROCK. Inhibition of the RhoA/ROCK/GLUT1 signaling largely abolishes mutp53 GOF in stimulating the Warburg effect. Furthermore, inhibition of glycolysis in tumor cells greatly compromises mutp53 GOF in promoting tumorigenesis. Thus, our results reveal a new mutp53 GOF and a mechanism for controlling the Warburg effect.