Senescent fibroblasts are known to promote tumor growth. However, the exact mechanism remains largely unknown. An important clue comes from recent studies linking autophagy with the onset of senescence. Thus, autophagy and senescence may be part of the same physiological process, known as the autophagy-senescence transition (AST). To test this hypothesis, human fibroblasts immortalized with telomerase (hTERT-BJ1) were stably transfected with autophagy genes (BNIP3, CTSB or ATG16L1). Their overexpression was sufficient to induce a constitutive autophagic phenotype, with features of mitophagy, mitochondrial dysfunction and a shift toward aerobic glycolysis, resulting in L-lactate and ketone body production. Autophagic fibroblasts also showed features of senescence, with increased p21(WAF1/CIP1), a CDK inhibitor, cellular hypertrophy and increased β-galactosidase activity. Thus, we genetically validated the existence of the autophagy-senescence transition. Importantly, autophagic-senescent fibroblasts promoted tumor growth and metastasis, when co-injected with human breast cancer cells, independently of angiogenesis. Autophagic-senescent fibroblasts stimulated mitochondrial metabolism in adjacent cancer cells, when the two cell types were co-cultured, as visualized by MitoTracker staining. In particular, autophagic ATG16L1 fibroblasts, which produced large amounts of ketone bodies (3-hydroxy-butyrate), had the strongest effects and promoted metastasis by up to 11-fold. Conversely, expression of ATG16L1 in epithelial cancer cells inhibited tumor growth, indicating that the effects of autophagy are compartment-specific. Thus, autophagic-senescent fibroblasts metabolically promote tumor growth and metastasis, by paracrine production of high-energy mitochondrial fuels. Our current studies provide genetic support for the importance of “two-compartment tumor metabolism” in driving tumor growth and metastasis via a simple energy transfer mechanism. Finally, β-galactosidase, a known lysosomal enzyme and biomarker of senescence, was localized to the tumor stroma in human breast cancer tissues, providing in vivo support for our hypothesis. Bioinformatic analysis of genome-wide transcriptional profiles from tumor stroma, isolated from human breast cancers, also validated the onset of an autophagy-senescence transition. Taken together, these studies establish a new functional link between host aging, autophagy, the tumor microenvironment and cancer metabolism.

Here, we show that tamoxifen resistance is induced by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Coculture of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) MCF7 cells with fibroblasts induces tamoxifen and fulvestrant resistance with 4.4 and 2.5-fold reductions, respectively, in apoptosis compared with homotypic MCF7 cell cultures. Treatment of MCF7 cells cultured alone with high-energy mitochondrial "fuels" (L-lactate or ketone bodies) is sufficient to confer tamoxifen resistance, mimicking the effects of coculture with fibroblasts. To further demonstrate that epithelial cancer cell mitochondrial activity is the origin of tamoxifen resistance, we employed complementary pharmacological and genetic approaches. First, we studied the effects of two mitochondrial "poisons," namely metformin and arsenic trioxide (ATO), on fibroblast-induced tamoxifen resistance. We show here that treatment with metformin or ATO overcomes fibroblast-induced tamoxifen resistance in MCF7 cells. Treatment with the combination of tamoxifen plus metformin or ATO leads to increases in glucose uptake in MCF7 cells, reflecting metabolic uncoupling between epithelial cancer cells and fibroblasts. In coculture, tamoxifen induces the upregulation of TIGAR (TP53-induced glycolysis and apoptosis regulator), a p53 regulated gene that simultaneously inhibits glycolysis, autophagy and apoptosis and reduces ROS generation, thereby promoting oxidative mitochondrial metabolism. To genetically mimic the effects of coculture, we next recombinantly overexpressed TIGAR in MCF7 cells. Remarkably, TIGAR overexpression protects epithelial cancer cells from tamoxifen-induced apoptosis, providing genetic evidence that increased mitochondrial function confers tamoxifen resistance. Finally, CAFs also protect MCF7 cells against apoptosis induced by other anticancer agents, such as the topoisomerase inhibitor doxorubicin (adriamycin) and the PARP-1 inhibitor ABT-888. These results suggest that the tumor microenvironment may be a general mechanism for conferring drug resistance. In summary, we have discovered that mitochondrial activity in epithelial cancer cells drives tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer and that mitochondrial "poisons" are able to re-sensitize these cancer cells to tamoxifen. In this context, TIGAR may be a key "druggable" target for preventing drug resistance in cancer cells, as it protects cancer cells against the onset of stress-induced mitochondrial dys-function and aerobic glycolysis.