Hajaj E, Sciacovelli M, Frezza C, Erez A. The context-specific roles of urea cycle enzymes in tumorigenesis.
Mol Cell 2021;
81:3749-3759. [PMID:
34469752 DOI:
10.1016/j.molcel.2021.08.005]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The expression of the urea cycle (UC) proteins is dysregulated in multiple cancers, providing metabolic benefits to tumor survival, proliferation, and growth. Here, we review the main changes described in the expression of UC enzymes and metabolites in different cancers at various stages and suggest that these changes are dynamic and should hence be viewed in a context-specific manner. Understanding the evolvability in the activity of the UC pathway in cancer has implications for cancer-immune cell interactions and for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
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