Inappropriate proliferation of cancer cells requires the utilization of nutrients to synthesize the biomolecules needed for production of new cells. . The Warburg effect describes tumor dependency on aerobic glycolysis rather than the electron transport chain to generate sufficient ATP and shunt carbons into production of biomolecules needed for proliferation. While angiogenesis provides the tumor with a means of obtaining the high levels of required glucose, it occurs rather late in cancer progression. Thus, cancer cells might utilize other methods and metabolic pathways to obtain nutrients during pre-angiogenic tumor progression. P27kip1 is thought to function as a tumor suppressor protein via inhibition of cell cycle progression. However, a comparison of metabolic pathways in p27 +/+ and p27-/- mouse fibroblasts suggests cells lacking p27 can utilize nutrient sources other than glucose. This may provide cancers with decreased p27 protein with a selective growth advantage during the early stages of tumorigenesis.

Role for the tumor suppressor p27kip1 in cancer cell metabolism

245th National Meeting (2013)

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