Gluconeogenesis in Cancer Cells - Repurposing of a Starvation-induced Metabolic Pathway?

Overview

Journal Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer

Publisher Elsevier

Specialties Biochemistry
Biophysics
Oncology

Date 2019 Jun 2

PMID 31152822

Citations 112

Authors

Gabriele Grasmann

Elisabeth Smolle

Horst Olschewski

Katharina Leithner

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cancer cells constantly face a fluctuating nutrient supply and interference with adaptive responses might be an effective therapeutic approach. It has been discovered that in the absence of glucose, cancer cells can synthesize crucial metabolites by expressing phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK, PCK1 or PCK2) using abbreviated forms of gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis, which in essence is the reverse pathway of glycolysis, uses lactate or amino acids to feed biosynthetic pathways branching from glycolysis. PCK1 and PCK2 have been shown to be critical for the growth of certain cancers. In contrast, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1), a downstream gluconeogenesis enzyme, inhibits glycolysis and tumor growth, partly by non-enzymatic mechanisms. This review sheds light on the current knowledge of cancer cell gluconeogenesis and its role in metabolic reprogramming, cancer cell plasticity, and tumor growth.

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