Researchers at Ben-Gurion University have discovered the mechanism that allows cancer cells to survive despite lacking the glucose necessary for their existence. This discovery may pave the way for new treatments for various cancerous tumors in the future. The findings were recently published in the prestigious journal Nature.
"Living organisms feed on sugar to survive," explains Professor Barak Rotblat, one of the researchers and a lecturer from the Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN) at Ben-Gurion University. 3 View gallery Photo of brain cancer cells after 4EBP gene silencing ( Photo: Dr. Tal Levi ) "This is true for humans, as well as other animals, plants and even bacteria.
When we have a lot of energy, we produce fat, and when we have little left, we burn it. This is a very basic mechanism of nature that developed very early in evolution so that living creatures can maintain a proper energy balance. When the sugar levels in a cell drop below the threshold that allows its proper existence, this condition is called 'glucose starvation.
'" Cancer cells love sugar too. This characteristic is used in one of the common methods for diagnosing cancer metastases through PET CT scans, during which radioactive sugar is injected into the patient. Because cancerous tumors feed on sugar, the radioactive sugar accumulates in the tumor, making it visible in the imaging test.
However, one of the more interesting phenomena in this c.
