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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 18.
Published in final edited form as: Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2015 Sep;28(5):501–519. doi: 10.1111/pcmr.12391

Figure 4. Amino acid synthesis inhibition.

Figure 4

Diagram illustrating pathways targeting amino acid biosynthesis or transport for therapeutic applications. LAT1 and ASCT2 are two amino acid transporters important in melanoma. Depletion of intracellular amino acid pools, whether by disrupting transport or biosynthesis, could alter mTOR and GCN2 signaling, inhibiting mRNA translation initiation. Many amino acids regulate cellular processes other than protein synthesis. Two examples are arginine and proline. Arginine is used in the urea cycle and proline can contribute to glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway. Lastly, tumor suppressors and oncogenes regulate amino acid biosynthetic pathways as evidenced by the role of p53 and MYC in proline biosynthesis.