New mechanism of amino acid metabolism abnormality in tumor cells revealed by the research of University of science and technology of China

Science and technology daily (reporter Wu Changfeng Yang Baoguo, correspondent) Zhang Huafeng Group, Gao Ping group, School of life sciences, University of science and technology of China, song libing group, cancer prevention center, Sun Yat sen University, Tang Huiru group, Wuhan Institute of materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other researchers found that under the condition of nutritional deficiency, the oncogene cmyc induced serine (an essential amino acid in mammals) biosynthesis pathway Activation plays an important role in the occurrence and development of cancer The research results were recently published in the international famous academic journal Cell Research Zhang Huafeng and other research groups found that these nutritional stress conditions can activate the serine synthesis pathway by removing sugar or glutamine, two important energy substances necessary for the growth of tumor cells in the process of tumor cell culture, and starving tumor cells At the molecular level, it was found that the transformation of metabolism under nutritional stress, namely the activation of serine synthesis pathway, was induced by the oncogene cmyc Furthermore, at the metabolic level and by means of nuclear magnetic resonance and other technical means, cmyc and its regulated phosphoserine phosphorylase, the rate limiting enzyme of serine metabolism, can support the survival of tumor cells under the condition of nutritional deficiency by regulating the redox balance, cell cycle and nucleotide synthesis Finally, the high expression of phosphoserine phosphorylase has a close positive correlation with the development of tumor Experts said that this study not only revealed the relationship between the activation of serine synthesis pathway and cmyc at the level of molecular mechanism, but also provided a new potential target for clinical diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer.