Different kinds of cancers seem to have different preferences for sugars, amino acids that make protein, and fats. But most cancers use glucose, a form of sugar.
Heather Christofk, PhD, co-leader of the UCLA Metabolomics Center and a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center, is working to identify the proteins within cancer cells that are responsible for altered glucose metabolism.
How cells break down glucose
When glucose enters a cell, the first pathway it encounters is glycolysis – the process that breaks down sugar to extract energy. Glycolysis transforms glucose into products that can produce more energy for cells. These products include ATP, cells’ energy source, and pyruvate, a versatile biological molecule that is very important to all living cells.
The body can continue breaking down the resulting products into several types of compounds that cells need:
- Amino acids, which create protein
- Fatty acids that make lipids
- Nucleic acids that make DNA and RNA, the building blocks of genes