BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

New Ways to Combat Cancer

Rights Glucose Biomass Conversion

Rights Glucose Biomass Conversion

What if I told you that one of the newest cancer treatment research methods had to do with glucose?  Glucose is the basic unit practically all food is broken down into, and is used as an energy supply.  By preventing cancerous cells from accessing glucose, could we kill them off?

This idea is being extensively researched, as scientists have discovered that whereas normal cells use the form of the enzyme pyruvate kinase known as PKM1 to utilize glucose, cancer cells use PKM2.  Furthermore, studies have shown that PKM2 was inhibited by the presence of oxidants. In the presence of oxidants, PKM2 does not function properly, causing the cancerous cell to fail to be able to break down glucose into ATP through cellular respiration.  Without an energy source, cancerous cells would be unable to form metabolic functions, causing them to die before they divide and spread.

Pyruvate kinase is an enzyme involved in glycolysis, and catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group from phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to ADP.  This process creates one molecule of pyruvate and one molecule of ATP.

For more information on this technique, check out this link: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/11/02/science.1211485.abstract?sid=8fabf111-30ac-47a7-927c-1e7fdfaa600a

 

Also, for more information on PKM2, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKM2 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Previous

Single Cell Sequencing

Next

Wait, Babies can be Born Without Eyes?

2 Comments

  1. nicleus2

    I found this incredibly interesting and innovative! This prompted me to look up other creative, innovative ways that could treat or cure cancer. After doing my research, I came up with an article describing the natural ways to cure cancer. You should check it out!

    http://www.moving-overseas-guide.com/natural-way-to-cure-cancer.html

  2. lp719

    Before reading this article, I had never assumed that cancer and glucose were related. I wanted to learn more about the connections between cancer cells and sugar, and I found an article that shows that they are interdependent. It says that glucose feeds canercous tumor cells and that if researchers find a way to break the cycle of glucose utilization, then it could be very beneficial in cancer treatments.
    Here is the link to the article!

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090817184539.htm

Leave a Reply to lp719 Cancel reply

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

Skip to toolbar