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Researchers say they have found evidence linking disrupted metabolism and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
“The link between metabolism and cancer has been proposed or inferred to exist for a long time, but what is more scarce is evidence for a direct connection—genetic mutations in metabolic enzymes,” said Ricardo C.T. Aguiar, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“We have discovered a metabolic imbalance that is oncogenic or pro-cancer.”
Dr Aguiar and his colleagues described this discovery in Nature Communications.
The team found that the gene encoding the enzyme D2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) is mutated in DLBCL.
The mutated lymphoma cell displays a deficiency of a metabolite called alpha-ketoglutarate (α-KG), which is needed in steady levels for cells to be healthy.
“When the levels of α-KG are abnormally low, another class of enzymes called dioxygenases don‘t function properly, resulting in a host of additional disturbances,” Dr Aguiar said.
He added that α-KG has been identified as a critical regulator of aging and stem cell maintenance. So the implications of his group’s findings are not limited to cancer biology. 
Researchers say they have found evidence linking disrupted metabolism and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
“The link between metabolism and cancer has been proposed or inferred to exist for a long time, but what is more scarce is evidence for a direct connection—genetic mutations in metabolic enzymes,” said Ricardo C.T. Aguiar, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“We have discovered a metabolic imbalance that is oncogenic or pro-cancer.”
Dr Aguiar and his colleagues described this discovery in Nature Communications.
The team found that the gene encoding the enzyme D2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) is mutated in DLBCL.
The mutated lymphoma cell displays a deficiency of a metabolite called alpha-ketoglutarate (α-KG), which is needed in steady levels for cells to be healthy.
“When the levels of α-KG are abnormally low, another class of enzymes called dioxygenases don‘t function properly, resulting in a host of additional disturbances,” Dr Aguiar said.
He added that α-KG has been identified as a critical regulator of aging and stem cell maintenance. So the implications of his group’s findings are not limited to cancer biology.
Researchers say they have found evidence linking disrupted metabolism and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
“The link between metabolism and cancer has been proposed or inferred to exist for a long time, but what is more scarce is evidence for a direct connection—genetic mutations in metabolic enzymes,” said Ricardo C.T. Aguiar, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“We have discovered a metabolic imbalance that is oncogenic or pro-cancer.”
Dr Aguiar and his colleagues described this discovery in Nature Communications.
The team found that the gene encoding the enzyme D2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) is mutated in DLBCL.
The mutated lymphoma cell displays a deficiency of a metabolite called alpha-ketoglutarate (α-KG), which is needed in steady levels for cells to be healthy.
“When the levels of α-KG are abnormally low, another class of enzymes called dioxygenases don‘t function properly, resulting in a host of additional disturbances,” Dr Aguiar said.
He added that α-KG has been identified as a critical regulator of aging and stem cell maintenance. So the implications of his group’s findings are not limited to cancer biology.