Progress in the Role of one Carbon Metabolism Pathway in Carcinogenesis
Chen Bingyu, Huang Sizhou*
In China, the incidence of cancer is getting higher as well the patients are younger than before. Recently, scientific research shows that the regulation genes relation of cellular metabolism has being as a new target for cancer diagnosis and treatment. One-carbon metabolism is essential for cell metabolism, during this process, not only require folate, serine and methionine, but also can produce the other biological macromolecules, such as purine, adenosine and thymide. Three kinds of key reactions are included in one-carbon metabolism: folate cycle, methionine cycle and trans-sulfuration pathway. In the folate cycle, folate and its intermediates regulate the growth and proliferation of cancer cells by providing purine and thymidine. Moreover, polyamines and DNA methyl groups also regulate the growth and proliferation of cancer cells in the methionine cycle. The tran-sulfurization pathway is an important pathway for the synthesis of glutathione, which can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) closely related to tumor cells. In this paper, the role of one-carbon metabolism in cancer development is briefly reviewed.
And the significance of some important factors and intermediates in one-carbon metabolism is summarized, which might be as the targets for cancer treatment.
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