Abstract 1032: Characterizing the metabolic dependencies of rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma cells

Abstract Sarcomas represent a diverse group of malignancies with unique molecular and pathological characteristics. In order to improve sarcoma treatment, a better understanding of the alterations associated with specific sarcoma subtypes is critically important. Renewed interest in the altered metabolic properties of cancer cells has led to an exploration of targeting metabolic dependencies as a novel therapeutic strategy. In this study, we have characterized the dependency of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and Ewing's sarcoma (EWS) cells on key metabolic substrates by examining cell proliferation and bioenergetic properties under varying concentrations of glucose and glutamine. We utilized two alveolar RMS cell lines, one embryonal RMS cell line, and five EWS cell lines. While all cell lines tested were completely growth-inhibited by lack of glucose, individual RMS and EWS cell lines were differentially sensitive to removal of glutamine. Furthermore, glutamine deprivation significantly reduced mitochondrial bioenergetic function, as demonstrated by Seahorse metabolic flux analysis. The observed effects of glutamine deprivation on proliferation and mitochondrial bioenergetics were rescued by the re-introduction of glutamine into the culture media. Our findings suggest that metabolic dependencies of RMS and EWS cells should be further investigated in order to identify metabolic vulnerabilities that could be targeted for potential therapeutic benefit. Citation Format: Sameer Issaq, Lee Helman. Characterizing the metabolic dependencies of rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1032.