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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Characterization of Metabolic Status in Nonhuman Primates with the Intravenous Glucose Tolerance Test
Published on: November 13, 2016
UCP2 Overexpression Redirects Glucose into Anabolic Metabolic Pathways
Annapoorna Sreedhar1, Teresa Cassell2, Parker Smith1
1Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Neuroscience, LSU Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, LA, 71130, USA.
Abstract:
Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is often upregulated in cancer cells. The UCP2 upregulation is positively correlated with enhanced proliferation, tumorigenesis, and metabolic alterations, thus suggesting that UCP2 upregulation can play a key role in sensing metabolic changes to promote tumorigenesis. To determine the global metabolic impact of UCP2 upregulation, 13 C6 glucose as a source molecule is used to "trace" the metabolic fate of carbon atoms derived from glucose. UCP2 overexpression in skin epidermal cells enhances the incorporation of 13 C label to pyruvate, tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, nucleotides, and amino acids, suggesting that UCP2 upregulation reprograms cellular metabolism toward macromolecule synthesis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to bring to light the overall metabolic differences caused by UCP2 upregulation.
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