Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 31, 2025

Assessment of the Metabolic Profile of Primary Leukemia Cells
06:21

Assessment of the Metabolic Profile of Primary Leukemia Cells

Published on: November 21, 2018

10.6K

Regulation of tumor metabolism by post translational modifications on metabolic enzymes

Abhisha Sawant Dessai1, Poonam Kalhotra1, Aaron T Novickis1

  • 1Department of Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, 14263, USA.

Cancer Gene Therapy
|August 23, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Cancer cells reprogram metabolism, altering key enzymes through post-translational modifications. These changes drive tumor growth, survival, and metastasis, highlighting metabolic enzymes as therapeutic targets.

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Metabolic reprogramming is a critical hallmark of cancer, enabling tumor growth, progression, and metastasis.
  • Key metabolic pathways including glycolysis, the TCA cycle, lipid, and glutamine metabolism are frequently altered in cancer cells.
  • The activity of rate-limiting enzymes within these pathways is specifically modulated to support cancer's high energy demands.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the role of post-translational modifications in regulating metabolic enzymes in cancer.
  • To elucidate how these modifications support tumor progression and metastasis.
  • To highlight the significance of metabolic enzyme regulation in cancer biology.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review focusing on post-translational modifications (PTMs).
  • Analysis of PTMs in key metabolic pathways: glucose metabolism, glutamine metabolism, TCA cycle, and fatty acid metabolism.
  • Examination of regulatory mechanisms including transcriptional, translational, and post-translational controls.

Main Results:

  • Post-translational modifications enhance the expression, activity, stability, and substrate sensitivity of rate-limiting metabolic enzymes.
  • These modifications enable enzymes to meet the metabolic demands of rapidly growing tumors.
  • Altered metabolic enzyme activity supports cancer cell survival in harsh tumor microenvironments and during metastasis.

Conclusions:

  • Post-translational modifications are crucial regulators of metabolic enzymes in cancer.
  • Targeting these modifications offers potential therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.
  • Understanding these metabolic adaptations is key to combating cancer progression and metastasis.

More Related Videos

Utilizing 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging and Quantitative Histology to Measure Dynamic Changes in the Glucose Metabolism in Mouse Models of Lung Cancer06:51

Utilizing 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging and Quantitative Histology to Measure Dynamic Changes in the Glucose Metabolism in Mouse Models of Lung Cancer

Published on: July 21, 2018

18.1K
Hyperpolarized 13C Metabolic Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging11:43

Hyperpolarized 13C Metabolic Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging

Published on: December 30, 2016

10.6K

Related Concept Videos

Regulation of Metabolism01:19

Regulation of Metabolism

Cellular needs and conditions vary from cell to cell and change within individual cells over time. For example, the required enzymes and energetic demands of stomach cells are different from those of fat storage cells, skin cells, blood cells, and nerve cells. Furthermore, a digestive cell works much harder to process and break down nutrients during the time that closely follows a meal compared with many hours after a meal. As these cellular demands and conditions vary, so do the amounts and...
9.8K
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression03:03

mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression

The mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR protein was discovered in 1994 due to its direct interaction with rapamycin. The protein gets its name from a yeast homolog called TOR. The mTOR protein complex in mammalian cells plays a major role in balancing anabolic processes such as the synthesis of proteins, lipids, and nucleotides and catabolic processes, such as autophagy in response to environmental cues, such as availability of nutrients and growth factors.
The mTOR pathway or the...
3.9K
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells02:53

Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells

Cancer cells accumulate genetic changes at an abnormally rapid rate due to the defects in the DNA repair mechanisms. From an evolutionary perspective, such genetic instability is advantageous for cancer development. Mutant cell lines accumulate a series of beneficial mutations that contribute to their progression into cancer.
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
5.9K
Covalently Linked Protein Regulators02:04

Covalently Linked Protein Regulators

Proteins can undergo many types of post-translational modifications, often in response to changes in their environment. These modifications play an important role in the function and stability of these proteins. Covalently linked molecules include functional groups, such as methyl, acetyl, and phosphate groups, and also small proteins, such as ubiquitin. There are around 200 different types of covalent regulators that have been identified.
These groups modify specific amino acids in a protein....
7.0K
PI3K/mTOR/AKT Signaling Pathway01:22

PI3K/mTOR/AKT Signaling Pathway

The mammalian target of rapamycin  (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that regulates growth, proliferation, and cell survival in response to hormones, growth factors, or nutrient availability. This kinase exists in two structurally and functionally distinct forms: mTOR complex 1  (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2  (mTORC2). The first form (mTORC1) is composed of a rapamycin-sensitive Raptor and proline-rich Akt substrate, PRAS40. In contrast,  mTORC2 consists of a...
3.9K
Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps02:24

Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps

Gene expression can be regulated at almost every step from gene to protein. Transcription is the step that is most commonly regulated. This involves the binding of proteins to short regulatory sequences on the DNA. This association can either promote or inhibit the transcription of a gene associated with the respective sequence.
Transcription results in the generation of precursor (pre-mRNA) that consists of both exons and introns, which needs further processing before being translated to a...
23.0K