Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are aggressive and lack targeted therapies. Understanding how nutrients are used in TNBCs may provide new targets for therapeutic intervention. We demonstrate that the transcription factor c-Myc drives glucose metabolism in TNBC cells but does so by a previously unappreciated mechanism that involves direct repression of thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP). TXNIP is a potent negative regulator of glucose uptake, aerobic glycolysis, and glycolytic gene expression; thus its repression by c-Myc provides an alternate route to c-Myc-driven glucose metabolism. c-Myc reduces TXNIP gene expression by binding to an E-box-containing region in the TXNIP promoter, possibly competing with the related transcription factor MondoA. TXNIP suppression increases glucose uptake and drives a dependence on glycolysis. Ectopic TXNIP expression decreases glucose uptake, reduces cell proliferation, and increases apoptosis. Supporting the biological significance of the reciprocal relationship between c-Myc and TXNIP, a Mychigh/TXNIPlow gene signature correlates with decreased overall survival and decreased metastasis-free survival in breast cancer. The correlation between the Mychigh/TXNIPlow gene signature and poor clinical outcome is evident only in TNBC, not in other breast cancer subclasses. Mutation of TP53, which is a defining molecular feature of TNBC, enhances the correlation between the Mychigh/TXNIPlow gene signature and death from breast cancer. Because Myc drives nutrient utilization and TXNIP restricts glucose availability, we propose that the Mychigh/TXNIPlow gene signature coordinates nutrient utilization with nutrient availability. Further, our data suggest that loss of the p53 tumor suppressor cooperates with Mychigh/TXNIPlow-driven metabolic dysregulation to drive the aggressive clinical behavior of TNBC.
Keywords: MondoA; Myc; glycolysis; thioredoxin-interacting protein; triple-negative breast cancer.