Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Cancer

Starve a cold, and perhaps a cancer

Stem cells tightly link their metabolism to cell fate decisions; however, how cancers co-opt and bypass metabolic pathways for growth advantage remains unclear. New evidence in this issue highlights how cancer stem cells avoid epigenetically driven differentiation by shutting down endogenous serine synthesis and becoming serine auxotrophs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Differential serine metabolic pathways are dependent on epidermal cellular states.

References

  1. Intlekofer, A. M. & Finley, L. W. S. Nat. Metab. 1, 177–188 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Reid, M. A., Dai, Z. & Locasale, J. W. Nat. Cell Biol. 19, 1298–1306 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Locasale, J. W. Nat. Rev. Cancer 13, 572–583 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Baksh, S. C. et al. Nat. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-0525-9 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Possemato, R. et al. Nature 476, 346–350 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kottakis, F. et al. Nature 539, 390–395 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Maddocks, O. D. K. et al. Nature 493, 542–546 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Maddocks, O. D. K. et al. Nature 544, 372–376 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sullivan, M. R. et al. Cell Metab. 29, 1410–1421.e4 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pal, B. et al. Cell Rep. 3, 411–426 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Mohammad, H. P., Barbash, O. & Creasy, C. L. Nat. Med. 25, 403–418 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Carey, B. W., Finley, L. W. S., Cross, J. R., Allis, C. D. & Thompson, C. B. Nature 518, 413–416 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Feng, Y. et al. Cancer Med. 7, 6124–6136 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chowdhry, S. et al. Nature 569, 570–575 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Davis, R. T. et al. Nat. Cell Biol. 22, 310–320 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony E. Oro.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Haensel, D., Oro, A.E. Starve a cold, and perhaps a cancer. Nat Cell Biol 22, 755–757 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-0543-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-0543-7

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer