Urea cycle enzymes and intermediates in carcinogenisis

More than 80 years ago, Warburg proposed that metabolic alterations in cancer are the primary changes leading to its development rather than a secondary result of malignant transformation.  Our lab takes advantage of genetically engineered novel mouse models of urea cycle metabolic enzymes, as well as of primary cells, to study the consequences of their genetic perturbation on the carcinogenic process. Using these unique reagents, we are able to identify changes in catabolic processes in different anabolic diseases. 


The Warburg effect is the observation that most cancer cells predominantly produce energy by a high rate of glycolysis even when oxygen is plentiful, rather than by a comparatively low rate of glycolysis followed by oxidative phosphorylation, as occurs in most normal cells.