“Feed me!” Cancer is caused by the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Their rapid growth comes with a voracious appetite to support their nutritional demands. To satisfy these demands, cancer cells rewire their metabolism. Increasingly, scientists are looking to exploit the metabolic differences between normal and cancer cells for the development of new anti-cancer therapies. Continue reading “Cancer metabolism 101”
A new research study has discovered a mechanism that explains why some breast cancer tumors respond to specific chemotherapies and others do not. The findings highlight the level of glutamine, an essential nutrient for cancer development, as a determinant of breast cancer response to select anticancer therapies, and identify a marker associated with glutamine uptake, for potential prognosis and stratification of breast cancer therapy. The study results were published online in Cancer Cell. Continue reading “Study explains control of cell metabolism in patient response to breast cancer drugs”
Researchers at Sanford-Burnham have discovered that without a source of glutamine—one of the 20 amino acids used to build proteins—melanoma cells will stop proliferating and die. Their craving for glutamine stems from their ability to “abuse” this essential nutrient by using it as an additional source of carbon and energy. The findings present a rational basis for a treatment strategy that limits the supply of glutamine to tumors, potentially through nutritional interventions or inhibitors of glutamine uptake. The results of the study appear online in Oncotarget today. Continue reading “Melanoma’s addiction to glutamine is the basis for cancer growth”