Metastatic cancer cells increase glucose consumption and metabolism via glycolysis, producing large quantities of lactate. Recent work has shown that lactate efflux is mediated by monocarboxylate transporters (MCT), which are composed of a catalytic unit (MCT) and an accessory subunit (CD147), comprising the functional lactate transporter. CD147, an extracellular matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inducer, is highly expressed in metastatic cancer cells. Because aerobic glycolysis is a hallmark of metastatic cancer, we examined whether increases in CD147 expression were linked to MCT expression in MDA-MB-231, a highly metastatic breast cancer cell line. MCT4 mRNA and protein expression were increased in MDA-MB-231 cells compared with cells derived from normal mammary tissue. MCT4 colocalized with CD147 in the plasma membrane and in membrane blebs shed from the cell surface. Small interfering RNA-mediated silencing of MCT4 impaired the maturation and trafficking of CD147 to the cell surface, resulting in accumulation of CD147 in the endoplasmic reticulum. Silencing MCT4 also resulted in fewer membrane blebs and decreased migration of MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro. Knockdown of CD147 resulted in loss of MCT4 in the plasma membrane and accumulation of the transporter in endolysosomes. These studies establish for the first time that increased expression of CD147 in metastatic cancer cells is coupled to the up-regulation of MCT4. The synergistic activities of the MCT/CD147 complex could facilitate migration of tumor cells by CD147-mediated MMP induction and lactate-stimulated angiogenesis and hyaluronan production. These data provide a molecular link between two hallmarks of metastatic cancer: the glycolytic switch and increased expression of CD147. [Cancer Res 2007;67(9):4182-9]

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Monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) 4 is a heteromeric proton-coupled lactate transporter that is noncovalently linked to the extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer CD147 and is typically expressed in glycolytic tissues. There is increasing evidence to suggest that ion transporters are part of macromolecular complexes involved in regulating beta(1)-integrin adhesion and cell movement. In the present study we examined whether MCTs play a role in cell migration through their interaction with beta(1)-integrin. Using reciprocal coimmunoprecipitation assays, we found that beta(1)-integrin selectively associated with MCT4 in ARPE-19 and MDCK cells, two epithelial cell lines that express both MCT1 and MCT4. In polarized monolayers of ARPE-19 cells, MCT4 and beta(1)-integrin colocalized to the basolateral membrane, while both proteins were found in the leading edge lamellapodia of migrating cells. In scratch-wound assays, MCT4 knockdown slowed migration and increased focal adhesion size. In contrast, silencing MCT1 did not alter the rate of cell migration or focal adhesion size. Taken together, our findings suggest that the specific interaction of MCT4 with beta(1)-integrin may regulate cell migration through modulation of focal adhesions.

Background:The RNA binding protein, coding region determinant-binding protein (CRD-BP), is expressed by tumor cells and protects key mRNAs. Results: This study identifies a novel variant of CRD-BP and finds that CRD-BP is required for breast tumor cell clonogenicity. Conclusion: CRD-BP has tumorigenic activity and is ubiquitously expressed in breast epithelium. Significance: Under-reporting of CRD-BP isoforms suggests that published studies may be incomplete.

Many solute transporters are heterodimers comprised of non-glycosylated catalytic and glycosylated accessory subunits. These transporters are specifically polarized to the apical or basolateral membranes of epithelia but this polarity may vary to fulfill tissue-specific functions. To date, the mechanisms regulating the tissue-specific polarity of heteromeric transporters remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated the sorting signals that determine the polarity of three members of the proton-coupled monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) family, MCT1, MCT3 and MCT4, and their accessory subunit CD147. We show that MCT3 and MCT4 harbor strong redundant basolateral sorting signals (BLSS) in their C-terminal cytoplasmic tails that can direct fusion proteins with the apical marker p75 to the basolateral membrane. In contrast, MCT1 lacks a BLSS and its polarity is dictated by CD147, which contains a weak BLSS that can direct Tac, but not p75 to the basolateral membrane. Knockdown experiments in MDCK cells indicated that basolateral sorting of MCTs was clathrin-dependent but clathrin adaptor AP1B-independent. Our results explain the consistently basolateral localization of MCT3 and MCT4 and the variable localization of MCT1 in different epithelia. They introduce a new paradigm for the sorting of heterodimeric transporters in which a hierarchy of apical and basolateral sorting signals in the catalytic and/or accessory subunits regulates their tissue-specific polarity.