{"id":26542,"date":"2025-06-11T17:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T11:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=26542"},"modified":"2025-06-11T17:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T11:33:02","slug":"newly-discovered-cancer-cell-energy-pathway-blocked-with-natural-substance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/newly-discovered-cancer-cell-energy-pathway-blocked-with-natural-substance\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly discovered cancer cell energy pathway blocked with natural substance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Ethyl p-methoxycinnamate inhibiting cancer cell energy source: EMC, a main component of kencur ginger, has shown it can block tumor growth and prevent ATP development.<\/sup><\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking to nature for\u00a0answers\u00a0to\u00a0complex\u00a0questions\u00a0can reveal new and unprecedented results\u00a0that\u00a0can\u00a0even affect cells\u00a0on a molecular level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance,\u00a0human\u00a0cells oxidize glucose to produce\u00a0ATP (adenosine triphosphate), an energy source necessary for life.\u00a0Cancer cells produce ATP through glycolysis, which does not\u00a0utilize\u00a0oxygen even under conditions where oxygen is\u00a0present, and\u00a0convert glucose into pyruvic acid and lactic acid.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This method\u00a0of producing ATP, known as the Warburg effect,\u00a0is considered inefficient,\u00a0thus raising\u00a0questions\u00a0as to why cancer cells choose\u00a0this\u00a0energy pathway\u00a0to fuel their\u00a0proliferation\u00a0and survival.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In search of\u00a0this\u00a0energy\u00a0catalyst, Associate Professor Akiko Kojima-Yuasa\u2019s team\u00a0at Osaka Metropolitan University\u2019s\u00a0Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology\u00a0analyzed\u00a0the cinnamic acid ester\u00a0ethyl p-methoxycinnamate, a main\u00a0component\u00a0of\u00a0kencur\u00a0ginger,\u00a0and its\u00a0mechanism of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0previous\u00a0research, the team\u00a0discovered that\u00a0ethyl p-methoxycinnamate\u00a0has\u00a0inhibitory effects on cancer cells.\u00a0Furthering their study,\u00a0the acid ester was administered to Ehrlich ascites tumor\u00a0cells\u00a0to assess which\u00a0component\u00a0of the cancer cells\u2019 energy pathway\u00a0was\u00a0being affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results\u00a0revealed that the acid ester\u00a0inhibits ATP production\u00a0by disrupting\u00a0de novo\u00a0fatty acid synthesis\u00a0and lipid metabolism, rather than through glycolysis as commonly theorized.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the researchers discovered acid ester-induced inhibition\u00a0triggered\u00a0increased glycolysis, which acted\u00a0as\u00a0a\u00a0possible survival\u00a0mechanism\u00a0in the cells.\u00a0This\u00a0adaptability\u00a0was theorized to be attributed to ethyl p-methoxycinnamate’s\u00a0inability\u00a0to induce cell death.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese findings not only provide new insights that supplement and expand the theory of the Warburg effect, which can be considered the starting point of cancer metabolism research, but are also expected to lead to the discovery of new therapeutic targets and the development of new treatment methods,\u201d stated Professor Kojima-Yuasa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking to nature for\u00a0answers\u00a0to\u00a0complex\u00a0questions\u00a0can reveal new and unprecedented results\u00a0that\u00a0can\u00a0even affect cells\u00a0on a molecular level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-scaled.webp",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-675x450.webp",675,450,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-768x512.webp",750,500,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-1100x733.webp",750,500,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-1536x1024.webp",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-2048x1366.webp",2048,1366,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-1200x800.webp",1200,800,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-870x570.webp",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-600x900.webp",600,900,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-600x600.webp",600,600,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-760x490.webp",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-550x360.webp",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-640x853.webp",640,853,true],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kojima_Speech_bubble-150x100.webp",150,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Health<\/a> Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26544,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26542\/revisions\/26544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}