A non-proliferative role of pyrimidine metabolism in cancer

ConclusionIn leukemic cells the pyrimidine catabolism induces terminal differentiation towards monocytic lineage to check the aberrant cell proliferation whereas in some solid tumors (such as triple negative breast cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma) catalytic degradation of pyrimidines maintains the mesenchymal-like state driven by epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). This review further broadens this concept to understand the effect of PyM on metastasis and, ultimately, delivers a rationale to investigate the involvement of the pyrimidine molecules as oncometabolites. Overall, understanding the non-proliferative role of PyM in cancer will lead to improvement of the existing antimetabolites and to development of new therapeutic options.
Source: Molecular Metabolism - Category: Endocrinology Source Type: research