Whats Feeding Cancer Cells?
Researchers Find Out By Audrey Huang Johns Hopkins Medicine Cancer cells need a lot of nutrients to multiply and survive. While much is understood about how cancer cells use blood sugar to make energy, not much is known about how they get other nutrients. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how the Myc cancer-promoting gene uses microRNAs to control the use of glutamine, a major energy source. The results, which shed light on a new angle of cancer that might help scientists figure out a way to stop the disease, appeared Feb. 15 online at Nature. “While we were looking for how Myc promotes cancer growth, it was unexpected to find that Myc can increase use of glutamine by cancer cells,” said Chi V. Dang, the Johns Hopkins Family Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins. “This surprising discovery only came about after scientists from several disciplines came together across Hopkins to collaborate — it was a real team effort.” In their search
