![]() ![]() It was also readily used by all the pancreatic cancer cell lines they tested. To begin with, uridine is a structural component of RNA, so it’s different than the typical energy sources cells rely on, including carbohydrates like glucose, Dr. The analysis turned up many of the “usual suspects” that cancer cells would be expected to use for fuel, Dr. Using the tool, they assessed how readily more than 175 types of nutrients were taken up by about 20 different human pancreatic cancer cell lines (pancreatic cancer cells kept alive in lab dishes) when glucose wasn’t available. The research team began by using an advanced testing platform specifically designed to analyze the nutrients in blood and other tissues. Uridine: Not the typical fuel for cancer cells Lyssiotis’ lab team, along with colleagues from the Institute for Cancer Research, London, wanted to go deeper and identify the specific nutrients that pancreatic tumor cells take in to support their energy needs. Other studies have shown that pancreatic tumors can get energy from sources other than glucose. And not only do they often lack blood vessels, but those that do form are often leaky and mangled.Īccording to Konstantin Salnikow, Ph.D., of NCI’s Division of Cancer Biology, this abnormal vasculature limits the nutrients available to tumors and can cause “glucose starvation.” Pancreatic tumors, in particular, are “highly avascular,” Dr. Not only does its stark microenvironment thwart the entry of drugs designed to kill tumors, but numerous studies have shown that other residents in and around the tumors create an ecosystem that help the tumors thrive.īut this microenvironment also has a downside for tumors: it reduces the amount of oxygen that can flow to them. Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of death from cancer. Identifying alternative sources of energy for cancer cells But a better understanding of how cancer cells adapt their metabolism in the often oxygen- and nutrient-deprived environments in which they exist, he said, may open other avenues for attacking them. More research is needed to see if there’s a way to use this information to develop new treatments for pancreatic cancer, acknowledged one of the Nature study’s lead investigators, Costas Lyssiotis, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan Medical School.īlocking how cancer cells acquire and use energy, or their metabolism, as a treatment has been challenging, Dr. In that study, researchers reported that other types of cancer cells could also turn to uridine for energy when they lacked access to glucose. And when pancreatic cancer cells that could not use uridine were implanted in mice, only small tumors could form, according to findings published May 17 in Nature.Ī related study, published the same day in Nature Metabolism, provided strong confirmation of the finding. In experiments involving human pancreatic cancer cells grown in laboratory dishes, they showed that when glucose was lacking, uridine became the main energy source for the cells. In the study, funded in part by NCI, an international research team showed that pancreatic cancer cells appear to have a potent strategy for overcoming this glucose deprivation: They use an alternative source of fuel, a molecule called uridine. This unruly architecture surrounding these tumors creates conditions that decrease the supply of glucose, an essential fuel source for normal and cancer cells. Tumors in the pancreas typically develop a dense, nest-like structure around them-an area often referred to as the tumor microenvironment-and they also often lack intact blood vessels. ![]() Pancreatic cancer, the study found, can readily turn to an alternate source of energy to survive when its primary source, the sugar molecule glucose, is in short supply. A new study has revealed some important information about the behavior of one of the most notorious forms of cancer. ![]()
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