美國科學(xué)家日前發(fā)現(xiàn),，癌細(xì)胞能夠迅速增殖是因?yàn)樗鼈儐拘蚜艘环N叫做“PKM2”的丙酮酸鹽激酶。
據(jù)3月15日出版的《新科學(xué)家》雜志報(bào)道,，健康細(xì)胞的大部分葡萄糖作為“燃料”被用來產(chǎn)生能量，但美國哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院的科學(xué)家卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，在癌細(xì)胞中,，葡萄糖主要用來產(chǎn)生脂肪和脫氧核糖核酸等新的細(xì)胞成分，從而造成細(xì)胞惡性增殖,。
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)除了能解釋癌細(xì)胞如何快速生長和復(fù)制外,，還能解釋為什么幾乎所有類型的癌細(xì)胞都比健康細(xì)胞吸收更多的葡萄糖、并且燃燒葡萄糖產(chǎn)生能量的效率明顯降低,。這種變化使得癌細(xì)胞將更多葡萄糖用于細(xì)胞增殖,。
此外，實(shí)驗(yàn)室研究和動物試驗(yàn)結(jié)果顯示,，一旦研究人員使用某種分子阻滯劑來抑制這種變化,，癌細(xì)胞就會停止生長。
生物谷推薦原文閱讀：
New Scientist
Hijacked fetal enzyme helps cancers grow
14 March 2008 Andy Coghlan Magazine issue 2647
NO WONDER tumour cells can grow and multiply so rapidly. It turns out that they reawaken an enzyme responsible for driving the explosive growth of fetuses.
Healthy cells use most of their glucose "fuel" to produce energy, rather than for building components of new cells, such as fats and DNA. But in cancer cells, the opposite happens. Now, Lewis Cantley of Harvard Medical School in Boston and his colleagues have identified the enzyme responsible for triggering this switch - a fetal form of pyruvate kinase, called PKM2.
"It's a bit like building materials being brought to a house," says Cantley. "Usually, cells burn all the material to make energy, but if you burn it all you can't use it to make a new house." In cancer cells, PKM2 blocks the burning of the building materials so that new tumour cells can be made instead.
As well as explaining how cancer ...
