By activating an enzyme involved in the breakdown of glucose,
researchers were able to slow the growth of lung cancer cells
and increase the harm inflicted by reactive oxygen species
(ROS)—byproducts of normal metabolism that can cause damage to
the cell in high concentrations. The findings, published
Thursday (November 3) in Science Express, could one day be used
to make cancer cells more susceptible to cancer treatments and
minimize tumor growth. “It’s a beautiful paper, very elegant,”
said cancer biologist Karen Vousden of the Beatson Institute for
Cancer Research in Glasgow, who was not involved in the study.
The study shows how tumors normally cope so well with increased
oxidative stress and provides an avenue to turn that mechanism
against the cancer, she said. Scientists have long known that
cancer cells tend to have an alternative form of the enzyme
pyruvate kinase M1 (PKM1), which is part of the glycolysis
pathway that breaks glucose down into pyruvate and ATP. Unlike
PKM1, whose activity levels are