Aspartame induces cancer stem cell enrichment through p21, NICD and GLI1 in human PANC-1 pancreas adenocarcinoma cells

Advances in the role of membrane-bound transcription factors in carcinogenesis and therapy

Protein shuttling between the cytoplasm and nucleus is a unique phenomenon in eukaryotic organisms, integral to various cellular functions. Membrane-bound transcription factors (MTFs), a specialized class of nucleocytoplasmic shuttling proteins, are anchored to the cell membrane and enter the nucleus upon ligand binding to exert their transcriptional regulatory functions. MTFs are crucial in cellular signal transduction, and aberrant nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of MTFs is closely associated with tumor initiation, progression, and resistance to anticancer therapies. Studies have demonstrated that MTFs, such as human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER), fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR), β-catenin, Notch, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R), and insulin receptor (IR), play critical roles in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Targeted therapies developed against HERs and FGFRs, among these MTFs, have yielded significant success in cancer treatment. However, the development of drug resistance remains a major challenge. As research on MTFs progress, it is anticipated that additional MTF-targeted therapies will be developed to enhance cancer treatment. In this review, we summarized recent advancements in the study of MTFs and their roles in carcinogenesis and therapy, aiming to provide valuable insights into the potential of targeting MTF pathways for the reseach of therapeutic strategies.

Stem Cell Theory of Cancer: Clinical Implications for Cellular Metabolism and Anti-Cancer Metabolomics

Although Otto Warburg may be right about the role of glycolysis versus OXPHOS in cancer metabolism, it remains unclear whether an altered metabolism is causative or correlative and is the main driver or a mere passenger in the pathogenesis of cancer. Currently, most of our successful treatments are designed to eliminate non-cancer stem cells (non-CSCs) such as differentiated cancer cells. When the treatments also happen to control CSCs or the stem-ness niche, it is often unintended, unexpected, or undetected for lack of a pertinent theory about the origin of cancer that clarifies whether cancer is a metabolic, genetic, or stem cell disease. Perhaps cellular context matters. After all, metabolic activity may be different in different cell types and their respective microenvironments-whether it is in a normal progenitor stem cell vs. progeny differentiated cell and whether it is in a malignant CSC vs. non-CSC. In this perspective, we re-examine different types of cellular metabolism, e.g., glycolytic vs. mitochondrial, of glucose, glutamine, arginine, and fatty acids in CSCs and non-CSCs. We revisit the Warburg effect, an obesity epidemic, the aspartame story, and a ketogenic diet. We propose that a pertinent scientific theory about the origin of cancer and of cancer metabolism influences the direction of cancer research as well as the design of drug versus therapy development in cancer care.

Updated systematic assessment of human, animal and mechanistic evidence demonstrates lack of human carcinogenicity with consumption of aspartame

Aspartame has been studied extensively and evaluated for its safety in foods and beverages yet concerns for its potential carcinogenicity have persisted, driven primarily by animal studies conducted at the Ramazzini Institute (RI). To address this controversy, an updated systematic review of available human, animal, and mechanistic data was conducted leveraging critical assessment tools to consider the quality and reliability of data. The evidence base includes 12 animal studies and >40 epidemiological studies reviewed by the World Health Organization which collectively demonstrate a lack of carcinogenic effect. Assessment of >1360 mechanistic endpoints, including many guideline-based genotoxicity studies, demonstrate a lack of activity associated with endpoints grouped to key characteristics of carcinogens. Other non-specific mechanistic data (e.g., mixed findings of oxidative stress across study models, tissues, and species) do not provide evidence of a biologically plausible carcinogenic pathway associated with aspartame. Taken together, available evidence supports that aspartame consumption is not carcinogenic in humans and that the inconsistent findings of the RI studies may be explained by flaws in study design and conduct (despite additional analyses to address study limitations), as acknowledged by authoritative bodies.