Cell Backup Pathway May Drive Cancer Resistance — SkimNews
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- Mammalian cells can produce the essential amino acid cysteine through a backup system even when pathways once considered indispensable are disabled, scientists reported.
- The same survival mechanism may help cancer cells resist treatment, raising the possibility that blocking it could open a new avenue for cancer therapy.
Why it matters: Treatment resistance is a core obstacle in cancer therapy, and uncovering a previously unrecognized cellular survival pathway gives researchers a concrete new target — one that, if blocked, could strip tumors of a resilience mechanism they exploit to survive drug attacks.
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