Glutamine Mistakes

Genes can recognize mistakes during cell division. These mistakes are called mutations. Humans are not always born with mutations, they can occur during the whole life when natural processes in the cell take place. Mutations also happen because of tobacco, radiation, ultraviolet radiation, substances in food, and chemicals in the air. In other occasions, people can inherit defective genes from their parents, which can lead to cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute about 7% of cancers are inherited. Cells have the job of repairing the faulty genes, but when the damage is beyond repairable the cells self-destruct. Sometime the immune system may step in and identify the genes as abnormal and destroy them, therefore leaving the body

Glutamine is an amino acid that is abundantly found in our body, notably in the blood and bone marrow, with the role of synthesizing protein. Unfortunately, glutamine is a key fiber for cancerous tumors, according to Medical News Today. Like a growing child consuming lots of food, cancerous tumors tend to feast on glutamine, since it is rapidly growing. Researchers have been exploring a way to cut off tumors’ glutamine source for a more curative therapy. Dr. Charles Manning from Vanderbilt University found that a protein called ACST2 which is fundamental in transporter of glutamine into cancerous cells according to Vanderbilt University. The Vanderbilt scientists have now found a way to stop the growth of a tumor. By using precision medicine, researchers at Vanderbilt discovered that the highly potent molecule V-9302 can block cancer’s absorptions of glutamine. The blockade of glutamine from cancer cells resulted in decreased cancer cell growth, proliferation, and increased cell apoptosis. The uncommon metabolic needs of cancer cells lead to the possible opportunities for therapeutic drug discovery in the era of precision

As of now, we are in the first stage looking at inherited cancer syndromes such as BRCA-breast and ovarian cancers. A cancer syndrome is a genetic disorder which results from a mutation in the genes, the mutation predisposes one to cancer and early onset cancer according to American Cancer Society. For people with the predisposal to cancer, the goal is to find preventive surgeries and personalized approaches. These approaches take one’s genetic makeup, family history, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Researchers are only beginning to understand how all these factors interplay into the decreasing or increasing the probability of inheriting a cancer mutation. It is also not obvious why genes change with broad functions. Large genomics studies are observing the risk of cancer for everyone according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. For example, certain changes in mitochondrial DNA, which is the DNA found in the cell organelle, mitochondria, can lower the risk of breast cancer in ladies with the BRCA mutation. Researchers have also explored the possibility of using vaccination in preventing cancer in healthy beings that have a predisposal cancer syndrome according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The concept is to control the immune system to recognize and eradicate precancerous cells by their molecular sequence according to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. We are entering the