Impact of hypoxia on dichloroacetate (DCA) induced apoptosis

细胞对应激条件的检测和正确反应的能力对于细胞在各种生理情况下的生存是很重要的，例如血流的暂时变化。癌细胞能够利用这些反应来增强它们在可能杀死正常细胞的条件下生存和生长的能力。最近，有报道称，用一种名为DCA的药物治疗癌细胞可以选择性地杀死它们。DCA被认为是通过破坏癌细胞利用葡萄糖制造能量的方式发挥作用的，而大多数癌细胞的这种方式与正常细胞不同。我们有初步证据表明，虽然DCA可以在“正常”条件下杀死癌细胞，但它实际上有助于它们在压力大的环境中更好地生存。我们计划详细研究这种影响，以确定癌细胞在这些条件下避免死亡的细胞途径。我们希望我们获得的信息将帮助我们了解所有细胞(正常细胞和癌症细胞)如何适应健康和患病组织中的压力条件。

The ability of cells to detect and respond properly to stressful conditions is important for cell survival under a variety of physiological situations, such as temporary changes in blood flow. Cancer cells are able to use these responses to enhance their ability to survive and grow under conditions that might kill normal cells. Recently, it was reported that cancer cells could be selectively killed by treating them with a drug known as DCA. DCA is thought to work by disrupting the way cancer cells use glucose to make energy, something that most cancer cells do differently from normal cells. We have preliminary evidence that, although DCA can kill cancer cells under 'normal' conditions, it actually helps them survive better in stressful environments. We plan to study this effect in detail to determine the cellular pathways used by cancer cells to avoid dieing under these conditions. We hope the information we obtain will help us understand how all cells (normal and cancer) adapt to stressful conditions in healthy and diseased tissue.