Tumors appear to do this by reeling in lipoproteins \u2014 molecules that carry fats and fat-soluble nutrients like vitamin E in the bloodstream \u2014 through sugar-coated molecules on their cell surface. These sulfated glycosaminoglycans (or GAGs) allow cancer cells to fortify their cell membranes with vitamin E and avoid a form of cell death called ferroptosis. <\/p>\n
Though clinical applications are still a ways off, the study underscores how understanding cancer\u2019s metabolism could open new doors for treatment, said Dr. Shad Thaxton<\/a>, an associate professor of urology at Northwestern University\u2019s Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. <\/p>\n Breaking News<\/p>\n \u201cI think this paper and others in the field [emphasize] the appreciation for ferroptosis as a mechanism to kill cancer cells \u2014 that mechanism of cell death is so intimately intertwined with cell metabolism,\u201d Thaxton said. \u201cI think what\u2019s interesting for people is that metabolism has a really big impact on the potential vulnerability of cancer cells to specific therapies.\u201d <\/p>\n Building blocks with functional perks<\/p>\n Cancers rewire their metabolism<\/a> in ways that support their growing horde of destructive cells. Some of this rewiring involves producing energy from glucose and acquiring cellular building blocks such as nucleic acids, proteins and lipids. <\/p>\n Amassing cellular building blocks is especially crucial since a tumor\u2019s uncontrolled growth lends to it creating a hostile microenvironment where there aren\u2019t enough nutrients and other resources, said Javier Garcia-Bermudez<\/a>, an assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center\u2019s Children\u2019s Medical Center Research Institute, who led the study. <\/p>\n Lipids are essential for a tumor to grow and progress. The plasma membrane of each cell is a bilayer of lipids; as cancer cells swell in number, they have to source lipids from their immediate environment or make their own to maintain their plasma membranes.<\/p>\n Garcia-Bermudez said that was the prevailing theory as to why lipids are so important to cancer. Emerging research has since discovered that lipids may offer cancer cells more functional perks. For example, a September 2024 study<\/a> found that cancer cells use lipids called sphingolipids to go into stealth mode, evading detection and destruction by the immune system. <\/p>\n Studies have also found lipids are somehow involved in ferroptosis, a type of cell death discovered in 2012<\/a>. A portmanteau<\/a> of \u201cferrous,\u201d the Latin word for iron, and apoptosis, the scientific word for programmed cell death, ferroptosis happens when a buildup of toxic molecules called oxidants and iron overwhelms a cell, causing it to essentially rust from the inside out.<\/p>\n \u201cOxidants damage the lipids that are forming the membranes [of] a cell,\u201d Garcia-Bermudez said. \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is that cancer cells tend to produce more oxidants than normal cells,\u201d he added, noting that there\u2019s been interest in understanding why some cancers are more susceptible to this type of damage and in using ferroptosis to kill cancer cells. <\/p>\n Cut the GAGs, kill the cancer<\/p>\n The crafty masters of survival that they are, cancer cells have devised ways to dodge ferroptosis. Unraveling the reason why put Garcia-Bermudez and his lab on a four-year journey of scientific inquiry.<\/p>\n One of the researchers\u2019 first findings, after screening 200 metabolic genes linked to cancer, was that an enzyme called glutathione peroxidase 4 was active in tumors. This wasn\u2019t a new discovery: Studies have shown<\/a> this enzyme, which can stop lipids from degrading, plays a pivotal role in controlling ferroptosis. <\/p>\n When glutathione peroxidase 4 was erased from a cancer cell\u2019s genome, the tumor would die \u2014 unless it was given a drug blocking ferroptosis or fed lipoproteins. <\/p>\n![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IZGDQTOOPJBKZGSGDIYZFGKHCM.jpg\")
From left to right, the researchers include co-first author Lingjie Sang, a postdoctoral fellow; senior author Javier Garcia-Bermudez, assistant professor in Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center; and co-first author Dylan Calhoon, a graduate student researcher.(Children’s Research Institute)<\/p>\n
![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LTIIJVKO3NHT7HSWDU7FZLVH3Y.jpg\")
Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis is the director of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development and coauthor of the study.(Mei-Chun Jau)<\/p>\n