Reconstructed Metabolic Network Models Predict Flux-Level Metabolic Reprogramming in Glioblastoma

Developments in genome scale metabolic modeling techniques and omics technologies have enabled the reconstruction of context-specific metabolic models. In this study, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), one of the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumors, is investigated by mapping GBM gene expression data on the growth-implemented brain specific genome-scale metabolic network, and GBM-specific models are generated. The models are used to calculate metabolic flux distributions in the tumor cells. Metabolic phenotypes predicted by the GBM-specific metabolic models reconstructed in this work reflect the general metabolic reprogramming of GBM, reported both in in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. The computed flux profiles quantitatively predict that major sources of the acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetic acid pool used in TCA cycle are pyruvate dehydrogenase from glycolysis and anaplerotic flux from glutaminolysis, respectively. Also, our results, in accordance with recent studies, predict a contribution of oxidative phosphorylation to ATP pool via a slightly active TCA cycle in addition to the major contributor aerobic glycolysis. We verified our results by using different computational methods that incorporate transcriptome data with genome-scale models and by using different transcriptome datasets. Correct predictions of flux distributions in glycolysis, glutaminolysis, TCA cycle and lipid precursor metabolism validate the reconstructed models for further use in future to simulate more specific metabolic patterns for GBM.