News Releases & Research Results Study quantifies the “sense of agency” by an optimal integration―Theory to reproduce psychological experiments in an integrated manner―

Research results of the group led by Project Associate Professor Tsuyoshi Osawa, and Emeritus Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama of Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Professor Teppei Shimamura of Nagoya University, and Professor Tomoyoshi Soga of Keio University.

• Glutamine depletion was found to be associated with malignant transformation (accumulation of ethanolamine phosphate as an oncometabolite) of undernourished cancer tissues.
• Analyses using cell culture and experimental mice revealed that metabolic enzyme PCYT2 modulating cellular membrane synthesis was down regulated in response to glutamine depletion.
• These results point to potential novel therapies for cancer, in terms of nutrition including the abnormal metabolism of glutamine.

The research was supported by Practical Research Project for Innovative Cancer Control of AMED.

These results were published in the online journal Cell Reports, dated on October 1.

Osawa T., et al. Phosphoethanolamine Accumulation Protects Cancer Cells under Glutamine Starvation through Downregulation of PCYT2 Cell Reports
DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2019.08.087