Aurora A–mediated pyruvate kinase M2 phosphorylation promotes biosynthesis with glycolytic metabolites and tumor cell cycle progression

Cancer cells have distinctive demands for intermediates from glucose metabolism for biosynthesis and energy in different cell cycle phases. However, how cell cycle regulators and glycolytic enzymes coordinate to orchestrate the essential metabolic processes are still poorly characterized. Here, we report a novel interaction between the mitotic kinase, Aurora A, and the glycolytic enzyme, pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), in the interphase of the cell cycle. We found Aurora A–mediated phosphorylation of PKM2 at threonine 45. This phosphorylation significantly attenuated PKM2 enzymatic activity by reducing its tetramerization and also promoted glycolytic flux and the branching anabolic pathways. Replacing the endogenous PKM2 with a nonphosphorylated PKM2 T45A mutant inhibited glycolysis, glycolytic branching pathways, and tumor growth in both in vitro and in vivo models. Together, our study revealed a new protumor function of Aurora A through modulating a rate-limiting glycolytic enzyme, PKM2, mainly during the S phase of the cell cycle. Our findings also showed that although both Aurora A and Aurora B kinase phosphorylate PKM2 at the same residue, the spatial and temporal regulations of the specific kinase and PKM2 interaction are context dependent, indicating intricate interconnectivity between cell cycle and glycolytic regulators.