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Metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells and the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway

James Dennis

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Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Normal controls on cell growth are damaged and malfunction as a result of cancer-associated mutations. Cancer cells are no longer responsive to extracellular cues that restrain growth, due to changes in growth receptors and nutrient transporters at the cell surface. The fuel and building blocks of cancer cell growth are the nutrients that sustain our body, but cancers undergo metabolic reprograming which supports rapid growth, similar in many respects to the early growth phase in embryo. We have identified a novel mechanism that connects changes at the cell surface with growth metabolism inside the tumor cells. The connection has multiple links and our hypothesis is that identifying and disrupting the links will have a large impact on cancer cell growth and survival and lead to new and more effective cancer treatments.

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