Figure 3.
The impact of altered choline metabolism in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Altered choline metabolism promotes carcinogenesis through modulating DNA repair gene expression by methylation and generating genomic instability. Energy-limited areas arise with tumor growth and exert an energetic pressure that leads to metabolic reprogramming and results in diverse metabolic phenotypes. Altered choline metabolism is among these phenotypes. In particular, phosphatidylcholine metabolism regulates adaptative cellular processes, such as proliferation and autophagy that allow cancer cell survival with limited energetic sources and in parallel induce migration as an escape route toward an energy-privileged area. Cho, choline; PtdCho, phosphatidylcholine; FA, fatty acid; PA, phosphatidic acid; O2, oxygen.Created with BioRender.com.