Targeting cancer's sweet spot: UGP2 as a therapeutic vulnerability

Sunghoon Kim; Andrew Wolfe; Sung Eun Kim

doi:10.1080/23723556.2021.1990676

Targeting cancer's sweet spot: UGP2 as a therapeutic vulnerability

Mol Cell Oncol. 2021 Oct 27;8(6):1990676. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2021.1990676. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Sunghoon Kim^{1

2}, Andrew Wolfe^{3

4}, Sung Eun Kim^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biosystems and Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Integrated Biomedical and Life Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ Departments of Biology and Biochemistry, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms governing metabolic reprogramming that underlie potential vulnerabilities in cancer cells is key to developing novel therapeutic strategies. The catalytic enzyme UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase 2 (UGP2) drives the production of UDP-glucose. Our recent work demonstrated the crucial role of UGP2 in cancer growth and its regulation of cellular metabolic processes.

Keywords: UDP-glucose; UGP2; YAP; cancer metabolism; glycosylation.

Grants and funding

R00 CA226363/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States