Acetate fuels the cancer engine.

Lyssiotis, Costas A; Cantley, Lewis C · Cell · 2014

review · Level V

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Abstract

Cancer cells have distinctive nutrient demands to fuel growth and proliferation, including the disproportionate use of glucose, glutamine, and fatty acids. Comerford et al. and Mashimo et al. now demonstrate that several types of cancer are avid consumers of acetate, which facilitates macromolecular biosynthesis and histone modification.