Question

Cancer cells do not respond normally to cues that regulate growth. As a result, cancerous cells grow and divide uncontrollably, requiring large amounts of nucleotides to support their high rate of nucleic acid synthesis and NADPH for the synthesis of fatty acids and for cell survival under stress conditions. Considering glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and the pentose phosphate pathway, describe the flow of glucose 6-phosphate to address the needs of cancerous cells.

Answer 1

Glucose-6-phosphate is the substrate required for pentose phosphate pathway and glycolysis. As invasive metstasis happens, the requirement of glucose-6-phosphate is in demand. Acetyl CoA produced after glycolysis is required for fatty acid synthesis. High amounts of nucelic acid is synthesized for the newly developin gcells.

Glucose is produced from gluconeogenic aminoacids, thus protein depletion can provide more amino acids and thus glucose-6-phosphate required.