Extinguishing the Embers: Targeting AML Metabolism.

Extinguishing the Embers: Targeting AML Metabolism. Trends Mol Med. 2020 Oct 26;: Authors: Culp-Hill R, D'Alessandro A, Pietras EM Abstract Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer derived from the myeloid lineage of blood cells, characterized by overproduction of leukemic blasts. Although therapeutic improvements have made a significant impact on the outcomes of patients with AML, survival rates remain low due to a high incidence of relapse. Similar to how wildfires can reignite from hidden embers not extinguished from an initial round of firefighting, leukemic stem cells (LSCs) are the embers remaining after completion of traditional chemotherapeutic treatments. LSCs exhibit a unique metabolic profile and contain metabolically distinct subpopulations. In this review, we detail the metabolic features of LSCs and how these characteristics promote resistance to traditional chemotherapy. We also discuss new therapeutic approaches that target metabolic vulnerabilities of LSC to selectively eradicate them. PMID: 33121874 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Trends in Molecular Medicine - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Trends Mol Med Source Type: research