Molecular pathways: tumor cells Co-opt the brain-specific metabolism gene CPT1C to promote survival.

Abstract

The metabolic adaptations of cancer cells are receiving renewed attention as potential targets for therapeutic exploitation. Recent work has highlighted the importance of fatty acid catabolism through β-oxidation to cellular energy homeostasis. In this article, we describe recent preclinical studies suggesting that a gene usually expressed only in the brain, carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT)1C, promotes cancer cell survival and tumor growth. CTP1C confers rapamycin resistance on breast cancer cells, indicating that this gene may act in a pathway parallel to mTOR-enhanced glycolysis. Because of CPT1C's normally brain-restricted expression and the inability of most drugs to pass the blood-brain barrier, CPT1C may be an ideal candidate for specific small-molecule inhibition. We further speculate that concurrent targeting of CPT1C activity and glycolysis in tumor cells could be a highly effective anticancer approach.

• Authors: Patrick T Reilly, Tak W Mak
• Journal: Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (Clin Cancer Res) Vol. 18 Issue 21 Pg. 5850-5 (Nov 01 2012) ISSN: 1557-3265 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 22952346 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: ©2012 AACR.

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents
• Carnitine O-Palmitoyltransferase

Topics

• Animals
• Antineoplastic Agents (therapeutic use)
• Brain (metabolism)
• Carnitine O-Palmitoyltransferase (genetics, metabolism)
• Cell Proliferation
• Cell Survival (genetics)
• Drug Resistance, Neoplasm
• Humans
• Molecular Targeted Therapy
• Neoplasms (drug therapy, genetics, metabolism)
• Organ Specificity
• Signal Transduction
• Translational Research, Biomedical