title: Not expecting the unexpected: diacylglycerol kinase alpha as a cancer target.
abstract: In this issue of Cancer Discovery, Dominguez and colleagues identify diacylglycerol kinase alpha (DGKα), an enzyme that converts the membrane lipid diacylglycerol to phosphatidic acid, as a central node upstream of mTOR and other oncogenic pathways. Importantly, targeting DGKα causes apoptosis in cancer cells and tumor growth inhibition in mice with no overt toxicity, implicating DGKα as a novel cancer-specific target.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, and Brain Tumor Center, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Krishna P L
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Bhat
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aldape
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004075:Diglycerides / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010712:Phosphatidic Acids / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004075:Diglycerides; D010712:Phosphatidic Acids; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase