Caught red-handed
Leukemia was caught in the "theft" of glucose from healthy cells
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
The development of cancer is impossible without an influx of energy in the form of glucose. However, the mechanism by which malignant cells receive enhanced nutrition has remained unknown until now. Scientists from the University of Colorado (USA) studying leukemia were able to understand it.
According to the University of Colorado Cancer Center (Cancer hijacks the microbiome to glut itself on glucose), researchers have caught leukemia in the "theft" of glucose from healthy cells. It turned out that the disease causes a condition in the body that resembles type 2 diabetes. As a result, healthy tissues cannot consume glucose dissolved in the blood, and it goes to malignant cells.
The leukemia strategy consists of several stages. First, cancer cells stimulate adipose tissue to produce excess amounts of IGFBP1 protein, which makes healthy cells less susceptible to insulin. This may be one of the links linking obesity and cancer: the more fat cells in the body, the more opportunities there are to produce IGFBP1 and nourish malignant cells.
In a healthy body, there is a feedback between starving cells and the pancreas, which allows to increase insulin production. However, leukemia has learned to "jam" it and, on the contrary, reduce the synthesis of this hormone.
To do this, the disease affects the intestinal microflora. In particular, leukemia destroys symbiotic bacteria from the genus Bacteroides, which produce short-chain fatty acids. Without them, the production of hormones incretins in the intestine is reduced, which can reduce the level of glucose in the blood during saturation.
In addition, cancer cells reduce the concentration of serotonin, which reduces the production of insulin.
Figure from the article by HaobinYe et al. Subversion of Systemic Glucose Metabolism as a Mechanism to Support the Growth of Leukemia Cells, published in the journal Cancer Cell – VM.
As a result, healthy cells find themselves in a "vice": their need for insulin is growing, but the amount of this hormone in the blood is falling. According to the researchers, this is a bit like the strategy of parasites stealing nutrients from their hosts. Like a parasite, leukemia can deplete the host, causing fatigue and weight loss.
The researchers were not only able to understand how leukemia steals glucose, but also found a simple way to restore the disturbed balance.
The administration of serotonin and tributyrin fatty acid to mice with leukemia allowed to replace substances whose concentration decreased due to the disease. As a result, glucose regulation returned to normal, and the proliferation of malignant cells slowed down.
According to scientists, the proposed technique can be a serious help for the treatment of oncological diseases. It will weaken the tumor and at the same time give healthy cells enough energy to recover.
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