Lactate metabolism in human health and disease

Abstract

The current understanding of lactate extends from its origins as a byproduct of glycolysis to its role in tumor metabolism, as identified by studies on the Warburg effect. The lactate shuttle hypothesis suggests that lactate plays an important role as a bridging signaling molecule that coordinates signaling among different cells, organs and tissues. Lactylation is a posttranslational modification initially reported by Professor Yingming Zhao’s research group in 2019. Subsequent studies confirmed that lactylation is a vital component of lactate function and is involved in tumor proliferation, neural excitation, inflammation and other biological processes. An indispensable substance for various physiological cellular functions, lactate plays a regulatory role in different aspects of energy metabolism and signal transduction. Therefore, a comprehensive review and summary of lactate is presented to clarify the role of lactate in disease and to provide a reference and direction for future research. This review offers a systematic overview of lactate homeostasis and its roles in physiological and pathological processes, as well as a comprehensive overview of the effects of lactylation in various diseases, particularly inflammation and cancer.

Correction: Lactate metabolism in human health and disease

“…After online publication of the article 1 , the authors noticed one inadvertent mistake occurred in introduction that needs to be corrected. The correct text was provided as follows.…”

Schisantherin A inhibits cell proliferation by regulating glucose metabolism pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Our results showed that STA could reduce lactate production in Hep3B cells ( Figure 5C ). Increased lactate production can induce a more acidic tumor microenvironment, which is conducive to tumor metastasis, angiogenesis, and immunosuppression ( Li et al, 2022b ). Angiogenesis is conducive to the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tumor tissues, and meets the needs of rapid proliferation of tumor cells ( Qi et al, 2022 ).…”

Is Lactate a Signaling Molecule (A ‘Lactormone’)?

“…However, the aim of this assay is to show that the study of the role of lactate only as an energy substrate is limited. Lactate, in addition to its historically described properties, is also a molecule that regulates cellular functions in a variety of other ways (Li, et al [8]), including plasticity in many of them. One of the mechanisms discovered was signaling through a G protein-coupled receptor 81 (GPR81) (Brown, et al…”