Bioactive Food Components and Cancer-Specific Metabonomic Profiles

Figure 1

Potential metabonomic targets for bioactive food components during glucose metabolism in cancer cells. Cancer cells metabolize glucose and glutamine more than normal cells to support the de novo biosynthesis of nucleotides and energy required for the high rate of cell proliferation. Tumor-specific PKM2 determines the ratio of glucose metabolism between glycolysis and PPP, whereas GLUT1 and TK play critical roles in energy production in neoplastic cells via the TCA cycle and glutaminolysis, respectively. Each of these pathways is modulated by specific bioactive food components (see text). BFCs: bioactive food components; PKM2: pyruvate kinase M2 isoform; PPP: pentose phosphate pathway; TK: tyrosine kinase; GLUT1: glucose transporter 1; TCA: tricarboxylic acid.