UB-IDIBELL research team decodes glucose involvement in tumour cell growth
A research team from Bellvitge Campus of the University of Barcelona (UB) and Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) made a significant advance in the knowledge of the molecular mechanism that reprograms the cell in the tumour formation process. The new study, published in the journal iScience, is led by Professor Albert Tauler, from the Department of Biochemistry and Physiology of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the UB.
A research team from Bellvitge Campus of the University of Barcelona (UB) and Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) made a significant advance in the knowledge of the molecular mechanism that reprograms the cell in the tumour formation process. The new study, published in the journal iScience, is led by Professor Albert Tauler, from the Department of Biochemistry and Physiology of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the UB.
The growth and proliferation of cancer cells is a process that requires a great energy expenditure. Cancer cells are addicted to the main fuel of cell metabolism, glucose. The molecular machinery that damages this sugar to get energy -glycolytic enzymes- is overexpressed in cancer cells, but this is not the only feature that differentiates the cancer cell metabolism from the regular ones. Tumorigenesis involves great metabolic changes in cells that are known as metabolic reprogramming.
The new article describes the activating interaction of two glycolytic enzymes -PFKFB3 and PFK1- with mTOR complex, a protein with a key role in metabolic reprogramming. According to the study, these factors converge on the surface of the lysosomes, cellular organelles with a great amount of enzymes able to degrade macromolecules. Thus, the study describes a new regulation pathway for the mTOR protein -regarded as a therapeutic target to fight cancer- which enables researchers to explore new therapeutic approaches against one of illnesses with most impact on current society.