Context

Breast cancer is the top cause of cancer-related deaths in Indian women and is the most prevalent type of cancer in women.
Worldwide statistics show that about two million new cases were detected in 2018.

In news

Researchers studying cancer metabolism have often noted that tumour cells are addicted to glucose

Findings

• Once glucose enters the cell, it quickly gets fed to pathways and is utilised to multiply and grow.
• In contrast, normal cells primarily use glucose for energy production.
• This reprogramming of glucose metabolism by cancer cells often alters the response to drugs used in cancer treatment.
• An international team has discovered the conflicting roles of two genes in regulating glucose utilisation by breast cancer cells.

Significance

• They revealed that the CBX2 gene promotes glucose uptake and consumption by breast cancer cells whereas CBX7, a sister gene, does the opposite.
• Targeting these genes and/or their glucose pathway can pave way for new cancer treatments.

Why CBX genes was studied?

• CBX genes has an essential role in human embryo development. Since metabolic requirements during embryogenesis and carcinogenesis share a striking similarity, researcher got interested in CBX genes and investigated their role in breast cancer.
• The researchers identified the roles of the two genes by studying molecular data from over 3,000 breast tumour samples.
• In normal breast cells, they found lower CBX2 but higher levels of CBX7.
• In breast cancer patients they noted the opposite – higher CBX2 and lower CBX7 expression.
• Among breast cancer patients, those with higher CBX2 and lower CBX7 expression showed reduced survival, the study published in Molecular Oncology reported.

Source: The Hindu