Sugar awakens cancer cells
A nine-year joint research project conducted by VIB, KU Leuven and VUB has established a link between sugar and cancer. For a while, scientists have known about the Warburg effect, a phenomenon in which cancer cells rapidly break down sugars and stimulate tumour growth. However, evidence for this has been elusive until this study (reported in Nature Communications) . Yeast cell research was essential to the discovery, as these cells contain the same ‘Ras’ proteins commonly found in tumour cells, which can cause cancer in mutated form. Using yeast as a model organism, the research team found that sugar degradation is linked via the intermediate fructose 1,6-biophosphate to the activation of Ras proteins, which stimulate the multiplication of both yeast and cancer cells. This discovery may also have far-reaching impacts on tailor-made diets for cancer patients. — Eurekalert
