The
dystrophin (DMD) gene is recognized for its significance in
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a lethal and progressive skeletal muscle disease. Some DMD patients, as well as model mice with
muscular dystrophy (mdx), spontaneously develop various types of
tumors, among which
rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most prominent. By contrast,
spindle cell sarcoma (SCS) has rarely been reported in patients or mdx mice. In this study, we aimed to use metabolomics to better understand the rarity of SCS development in mdx mice. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was employed to compare the metabolic profiles of spontaneously developed SCS and RMS
tumors from mdx mice, and metabolite supplementation assays and silencing experiments were used to assess the effects of metabolic differences in SCS
tumor-derived cells. The levels of 75 metabolites exhibited differences between RMS and SCS, 25 of which were significantly altered. Further characterization revealed downregulation of non-
essential amino acids, including
alanine, in SCS
tumors.
Alanine supplementation enhanced the growth, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and invasion of SCS cells. Reduction of intracellular
alanine via knockdown of the
alanine transporter Slc1a5 reduced the growth of SCS cells. Lower metabolite secretion and reduced proliferation of SCS
tumors may explain the lower detection rate of SCS in mdx mice. Targeting of
alanine depletion pathways may have potential as a novel treatment strategy.