A metabolic link between the urea cycle and cancer cell proliferation.
Clinical observations in citrullinemia type I, an inborn error of metabolism, led us to explore the benefits of somatic ASS1 silencing in cancer. We found that downregulation of ASS1 results in preferential utilization of its substrate, aspartate, for pyrimidine synthesis to support cell proliferation. Reducing aspartate availability for pyrimidine synthesis restricted cancerous proliferation.
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
Sandesh C S
SC
Nagamani
Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science , Rehovot, Israel.
Ayelet
A
Erez
Aspartate; argininosuccinate synthase; cancer metabolism; pyrimidine synthesis; urea cycle