Coping with the metabolic stress of leaving home

Abstract

Detachment from extracellular matrix causes metabolic defects that transformed cells must overcome in order to survive and proliferate outside of their normal niche. A recent report from Jiang et al. published in Nature describes how cancer cells grown in suspension utilize reductive carboxylation of glutamine to transfer reducing power from the cytosol to mitochondria to detoxify reactive oxygen species and promote anchorage-independent growth and survival.

Figure 1

Reductive carboxylation of glutamine mediated by IDH1 facilitates the transfer of reducing power in the form of NADPH from the cytosol to mitochondria to help detoxify ROS generated in tumor cells grown in spheroids.