DLBCL tied to metabolic disruption
Researchers say they have found evidence linking disrupted metabolism and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
“The link between metabolism and cancer has been proposed or inferred to exist for a long time, but what is more scarce is evidence for a direct connection—genetic mutations in metabolic enzymes,” said Ricardo C.T. Aguiar, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“We have discovered a metabolic imbalance that is oncogenic or pro-cancer.”
Dr Aguiar and his colleagues described this discovery in Nature Communications.
The team found that the gene encoding the enzyme D2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase (D2HGDH) is mutated in DLBCL.
The mutated lymphoma cell displays a deficiency of a metabolite called alpha-ketoglutarate (α-KG), which is needed in steady levels for cells to be healthy.
“When the levels of α-KG are abnormally low, another class of enzymes called dioxygenases don‘t function properly, resulting in a host of additional disturbances,” Dr Aguiar said.
He added that α-KG has been identified as a critical regulator of aging and stem cell maintenance. So the implications of his group’s findings are not limited to cancer biology. 