Scientists discovered a surprising backup system that lets mammalian cells make the essential amino acid cysteine even when the pathways once considered indispensable are disabled. The same survival mechanism may help cancer cells resist treatment, raising the possibility that shutting it down could make tumors easier to kill. Scientists discover an “impossible” cellular survival pathway that could help fight cancer.
Scientists once thought this kind of survival was impossible. The finding, published in Nature Chemical Biology, could eventually point researchers toward new ways to make some cancers more vulnerable to treatment. "All cells need a constant supply of an amino acid called cysteine to stay alive," said the paper’s lead author Ed Schmidt, a professor of genetics and development in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology in MSU’s College of Agriculture.
"Yet cysteine is not available outside of the cells." Why Cells Depend on Cysteine Cysteine performs several essential jobs inside cells. It is used to make proteins, helps cells protect themselves from damage and contributes to the formation of disulfide bonds. These bonds help stabilize proteins and maintain their three dimensional structures.
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