What is known?
Regular cells use oxygen to perform metabolism
Cancerous cells use anaerobic mechanisms to perform metabolism
Regular cells can use both glucose and fats in the form of ketones for fuel.
Cancerous cells use glucose and not ketones for fuel.
What is new?
- Cancerous cells and normal cells may use glutamine as fuel.
Glutamine is the most abundant naturally occurring, nonessential amino acid in the human body, and one of the few amino acids that can directly cross the blood–brain barrier. Humans obtain glutamine through catabolism of proteins in foods they eat. In states where tissue is being built or repaired, like growth of babies, or healing from wounds or severe illness, glutamine becomes conditionally essential.
To combat cancer from consuming glucose can be accomplished by following a ketogenic diet and practice intermittent fasting. As one becomes older, one becomes acutely aware that the body becomes less able to ingest food as well as when you are young. When it was once so easy to consume sugary or carbohydrate-centric foods, it is healthier to eat an inversion of the food pyramid and eat more fats than carbohydrates.
Glutamine is a tricky fuel source to curtail. It is necessary for growth and for healing wounds. If you do have cancer, 6-Diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON) is a glutamine antagonist. If glutamine is a key and a receptor is the lock, DON will jam itself into a lock preventing the key from getting in.
Selection of enzymes inhibited by DON Source
| Enzyme | Metabolic pathway |
|---|---|
| Carbamoyl phosphate synthase (CAD) | Pyrimidine-De-Novo-Synthesis |
| CTP synthase (CTPS) | Pyrimidine-De-Novo-Synthesis |
| FGAR amidotransferase | Purine-De-Novo-Synthesis |
| Guanosine monophosphate synthetase (GMPS) | Purine-De-Novo-Synthesis |
| PRPP amidotransferase | Purine-De-Novo-Synthesis |
| Mitochondrial glutaminase | First step of glutaminolysis |
| NAD synthase | Coenzyme of the electron transport chain |
| Asparagine synthetase | Amino acid synthesis |
By using DON in combination with Ketogenic Dieting, it starves cancer cells. While not necessarily a "cure", it does provide a way of managing cancer.
#Additional Reading
Targeting Glutamine Induces Apoptosis: A Cancer Therapy Approach
Anti-Cancer Strategies: Inhibit Glutamine
Anti-Cancer News: The New York Times on Feeding Cancer
An Unrelated Discovery
Kaempferol derivatives as antiviral drugs against the 3a channel protein of coronavirus
Quercetin and cancer: new insights into its therapeutic effects on ovarian cancer cells
I am of the opinion that anything that hampers cancer and viruses must be a good thing. I have been aware that Quercetin naturally is antagonistic to viruses because it is a Zinc Ionophore. It helps transport Zinc into a cell to change the pH, preventing the virus from reproducing itself. I briefly talk about it in this article. I have also noted that Protein Kinase C Modulatory Compounds are associated with both HIV and tumour growth. It is possible that the process of inhibiting viruses will also inhibit cancer.