Metabolite Profiling Identifies a Key Role for Glycine in Rapid Cancer Cell Proliferation

TLDR

Cancer cells have distinct metabolic profiles that warrant detailed profiling of their metabolite usage. The authors systematically quantified hundreds of metabolites in the culture media of 60 cancer cell lines. Rapidly proliferating cancer cells preferentially consume glycine for purine synthesis, and disrupting glycine metabolism impairs their growth, suggesting a therapeutic vulnerability.

Abstract

More Glycine, Please To better characterize metabolic properties of cancer cells, Jain et al. (p. 1040 ; see the Perspective by Tomita and Kami ) measured systematically the concentrations of hundreds of metabolites in cell culture medium in which 60 different cancer cell lines were growing. The fastest growing cancer cells tended to consume glycine, whereas more slowly growing cells excreted some glycine. The rapidly growing cancer cells appeared to need glycine for synthesis of purine nucleotides required for continued synthesis of DNA. Interfering with glycine metabolism slowed growth of the rapidly proliferating cancer cells. Thus, an increased dependence on glycine by rapidly growing cancer cells could potentially provide a target for therapeutic intervention.