Figure 4. Glucose metabolism is regulated by aggressiveness of both tumor and stroma.
Glucose uptake is increased by basal-like CAFs (BCAFs). SUM149 cells had higher levels of glucose uptake than MCF7 cells in coculture regardless of fibroblast type (A). Glucose oxidation was suppressed in luminal cocultures (MCF7 or LCAF), while SUM149 cells cocultured with BCAFs had increased glucose oxidation (B). Finally, analysis of glycogen synthesis (C) revealed an increase in all coculture conditions relative to monocultures, with the strongest fold change among basal-like breast cancer cells (SUM149). All fold change values are expressed relative to the expected levels based on coculture composition and monoculture metabolism, as described in Methods.