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Cancer

Metabolism in 'the driver's seat

Nature volume 492, pages 362–363 (2012)Cite this article

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It is increasingly accepted that metabolic changes in cancer cells can drive tumour formation. The finding that the SIRT6 protein suppresses tumour formation by regulating metabolism adds weight to this view.

Cancer development is accompanied by extensive reprogramming of cellular energy metabolism1. A cancer-associated metabolic switch, called the Warburg effect, activates glycolysis — a biochemical pathway that fuels tumour growth by supporting the high energetic and biosynthetic demands of cancer cells. Growing evidence suggests that flipping the switch back, away from glycolysis, could be an effective strategy for tumour suppression. Writing in Cell, Sebastián et al.2 provide further support for this idea. They show that the protein SIRT6 prevents tumorigenesis by opposing cancer-promoting metabolic programs. Intriguingly, SIRT6 is not a classic metabolic enzyme, but rather a protein that regulates the integrity and proper expression of the genome3. Sebastián and colleagues propose that, through gene regulation, SIRT6 controls a key metabolic node that could be targeted to combat cancer.

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Figure 1: On the road to cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Luisa Tasselli and Katrin F. Chua are in the Division of Endocrinology, Gerontology and Metabolism, Stanford University School of Medicine; and at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.,

    Luisa Tasselli & Katrin F. Chua

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  1. Luisa Tasselli
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  2. Katrin F. Chua
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Correspondence to Katrin F. Chua.

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Tasselli, L., Chua, K. Metabolism in 'the driver's seat. Nature 492, 362–363 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/492362a

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