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Immune cells alter genetic decoding in cancer

Cancer cells make proteins in which the amino acid phenylalanine is swapped for tryptophan when immune cells trigger a tryptophan shortage. This finding reveals unexpected dynamics of genetic decoding.
  1. Pavel V. Baranov

    1. Pavel V. Baranov is in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork, Cork T12 XF62, Ireland.

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  2. John F. Atkins

    1. John F. Atkins is in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork, Cork T12 XF62, Ireland.

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Understanding the characteristics that are unique to tumour cells offers a potential way to develop new anticancer therapeutics. Writing in Nature, Pataskar et al.1 report an unusual twist in the way that certain cancer cells make proteins.

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Nature 603, 582-583 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00637-y

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 28 February 2023: In Figure 1 of this News & Views, T is being used to represent the RNA building block uridine, as is conventional in some fields.

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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