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Cancer

Why tumours eat tryptophan

Nature volume 478, pages 192–194 (2011)Cite this article

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Tumours increase their consumption of the amino acid tryptophan to evade immune control. But how does this work? A study shows that the main product of this consumption binds to a receptor involved in the immune system. See Article p.197

There is mounting evidence that fast-growing 'progressive' cancers occur because of a failure of the immune system to maintain control over budding tumours. The ability of cancers to escape immune responses is therefore attracting increasing attention, with numerous studies now pointing, perhaps surprisingly, to the consumption of the amino acid tryptophan as a critical factor in progressive cancer. On page 197 of this issue, Opitz et al.1 advance the field with their finding that many cancers upregulate a liver enzyme, tryptophan dioxygenase, to drive tryptophan consumption. What's more, the authors find that the primary product of this process, kynurenine, is an endogenous ligand for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which mediates invasive tumour growth. This second finding links the fields of toxicology, immunology and cancer biology in new ways, and may help to explain how elevated tryptophan consumption helps tumours to overcome immune barriers to cancer progression.

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Figure 1: The kynurenine pathway of cancer invasion and immune escape.

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  1. George C. Prendergast is in the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania 19096, USA.,

    George C. Prendergast

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  1. George C. Prendergast
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Correspondence to George C. Prendergast.

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Prendergast, G. Why tumours eat tryptophan. Nature 478, 192–194 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/478192a

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