Blocking a pair of sugar-transporting proteins may be a useful treatment approach for lung cancer, suggests a new study in mice and human cells published today in eLife.

Cancer cells use a lot of sugar to fuel their rapid growth and spread. This has led scientists to consider cutting off their sugar supply as a way to treat cancer. The current study suggests this could be an effective approach but it will be necessary to block multiple pathways at once to be effective.

Proteins called glucose transporters supply sugar to cells making them an appealing target for therapies intended to starve cancer cells. But scientists don’t know the best ways to do this, or if cancer cells would just switch to alternative fuel sources if they are denied sugar.

“Inhibiting sugar use in lung tumors could be an efficient treatment strategy, but whether glucose transporters should be targeted and which ones to target remains unclear,” says lead author Caroline Contat, a PhD student and Doctoral Assistant at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.

To find out, Contact and her colleagues genetically engineered mice with lung cancer that were missing a glucose transport protein called Glut1 or an alternate sugar transporter called Glut3. The team found that tumors grew just as fast in the mice lacking Glut1 or Glut3 as they did in mice with both transporters.

However, when they genetically engineered mice with lung cancer that lack both Glut1 and Glut3, they found that the animals grew fewer tumors and survived longer. By using an imaging technology called positron emission tomography (PET) and sugar labelled with radioactive tags, the team confirmed that the tumors used less sugar. The tumor cells also grew more slowly.

Finally, they deleted Glut1 and Glut3 in four different human lung cancer cell lines grown in the laboratory, which caused these cells to grow more slowly. “These experiments suggest Glut1 and Glut3 together are needed to fuel the growth of lung cancer”

Using nanoscale imaging studies, the team also found that most of the sugar-derived biomass in mouse lung tumor cells accumulates in cellular compartments called lamellar bodies and that Glut1 is necessary for this fuel storage.

Our Journal is planning to release a year end special issue has announced almost 50% discount on article publication charges to celebrate its journey for publishing articles with in the short time.

The Journal will publish original articles, reviews, technical notes, editorials, news and views (commentaries, science policy issues, ethical and legal issues, patient organizations, industry needs and alliances, regulatory issues, etc.), and letters to the editor.

The Journal invites different types of articles including original research article, review articles, short note communications, case reports, Editorials, letters to the Editors and expert opinions & commentaries from different regions for publication.

 The Journals includes around 150Abstracts and 100 Keynote speakers have given their valuable words. The meet has provided a great scope for interaction of professionals including in addition to clinical experts and top-level pathologists and scientists from around the globe, on a single platform.
 

Media Contact:
ALPINE
Managing Editor
Journal of Molecular Oncology Research
Email: oncology@openaccessjournal.org