Dichloroacetate restores drug sensitivity in paclitaxel-resistant cells by inducing citric acid accumulation

BACKGROUND: The Warburg effect describes the increased reliance of tumor cells on glycolysis for ATP generation. Mitochondrial respiratory defect is thought to be an important factor leading to the Warburg effect in some types of tumor cells. Consequently, there is growing interest in developing anti-cancer drugs that target mitochondria. One example is dichloroacetate (DCA) that stimulates mitochondria through inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase. METHODS: We investigated the anti-cancer activity of DCA using biochemical and isotopic tracing methods. RESULTS: We observed that paclitaxel-resistant cells contained decreased levels of citric acid and sustained mitochondrial respiratory defect. DCA specifically acted on cells with mitochondrial respiratory defect to reverse paclitaxel resistance. DCA could not effectively activate oxidative respiration in drug-resistant cells, but induced higher levels of citrate accumulation, which led to inhibition of glycolysis and inactivation of P-glycoprotein. CONCLUSIONS: The abilityof DCA to target cells with mitochondrial respiratory defect and restore paclitaxel sensitivity by inducing citrate accumulation supports further preclinical development. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12943-015-0331-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.