Figure 1.

Glucose and glutamine catabolism provide tumor cells with biosynthetic precursors. Glucose transport and glycolytic flux are accelerated in cancer cells, when compared to normal cells, due to increased expression of appropriate transporters and enzyme isoforms. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) shunts G6P from the glycolysis into the oxidative branch of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Intermediates from glycolysis and TCA cycle replenish biosynthetic pathways to produce macromolecules (nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins) necessary for cell proliferation. Only those transporters and enzymes relevant to the text are shown: GLUT1, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA)/-B, MCT1/4. HIF- targets are in red and CRISPR-Cas9 targets studied in our lab are identified with red arrows.