Amino acids in cancer

Abstract

Cancer: How tumors hijack basic building blocks Cancer changes how the body uses amino acids, the building blocks that all proteins are made of. A better understanding of these changes could lead to new cancer therapies. Cancer was already known to alter the body’s sugar metabolism to feed extra energy to fast-growing tumors. Recent reports have revealed that cancer also rewires amino acid metabolism. Jiyeon Kim at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, and co-workers have reviewed how cancer co-opts amino acids. They report that tumors use amino acids as an energy source and antioxidant precursor to balance their production of toxic reactive oxygen species. Amino acids are also instrumental in annotating the epigenetic code to enhance or suppress expression of tumor-related genes. The review illuminates a promising new approach to cancer therapeutics.