Acetate metabolism in cancer cells

Abstract

Macromolecule biosynthesis is required to duplicate cell components and support proliferation. Studies examining the nutrients used by cancer cells have focused on the contribution of glucose and glutamine carbon for biosynthesis, but the importance of other metabolic fuels is becoming apparent. Labeling of two-carbon units in newly synthesized lipids has been used to infer the nutrients that contribute to the acetyl-CoA pools in cells. Glucose- and glutamine-derived carbon are known to contribute extensively to de novo lipid biosynthesis, and in this issue Kamphorst et al. find that extracellular acetate can also contribute substantially to this process [1].