Nature
Cancer-causing mutations yield their secrets
16/02/12 07:30
Three recent papers published in Nature have shed new light on how mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) gene cause brain cancer and leukaemia. IDH1 acts early in the citric-acid cycle to produce ATP, and the IDH1 mutations associated with cancer inhibit the pathway, but also cause production of a bioactive metabolite called 2-hydroxyglutarate. S. Pelech notes that mutations of IDH1 and IDH2 are amongst the most common in human cancers and may be one of the contributing factors to the observation that tumour cells commonly demonstrate higher rates of glycolysis and anaerobic production of ATP from glucose, which is known as the Warburg Effect. Read More...