New celldeath mechanism could offer novel cancer treatment strategies naturecellbio
, Gan's team showed certain cancer cells might be susceptible to treatment with glucose transporter inhibitors due to their high expression of SLC7A11 and the resulting"addiction" to extracellular glucose.
The SLC7A11 protein imports cystine, an important amino acid that can contribute to tumor growth, but elevated levels of cystine and other disulfide molecules can be toxic. To regulate this balance, cells are forced to use the molecule NADPH to quickly convert toxic disulfides into other non-toxic molecules. NADPH is mainly supplied from glucose, so cutting off the glucose supply can lead to an accumulation of disulfide molecules and cell death.
The precise mechanism behind this process was not previously understood. According to Gan, this new study sheds light on the topic by demonstrating a previously uncharacterized form of cell death. One of the best-known cell death mechanisms is apoptosis, which can be triggered either internally or externally, resulting in the activation of caspases which kill the cell by chopping up key proteins. Another highly studied cell death pathway in recent years is ferroptosis, which is caused by the accumulation of lipid peroxides.