AUTHOR=Teoh Shao Thing , Ogrodzinski Martin P. , Ross Christina , Hunter Kent W. , Lunt Sophia Y. 

TITLE=Sialic Acid Metabolism: A Key Player in Breast Cancer Metastasis Revealed by Metabolomics

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2018.00174

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2018.00174

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Metastatic breast cancer is currently incurable. It has recently emerged that different metabolic pathways support metastatic breast cancer. To further uncover metabolic pathways enabling breast cancer metastasis, we investigated metabolic differences in mouse tumors of differing metastatic propensities using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. We found that sialic acid metabolism is upregulated in highly metastatic breast tumors. Knocking out a key gene in sialic acid metabolism, <italic>Cmas</italic>, inhibits synthesis of the activated form of sialic acid, cytidine monophosphate-sialic acid and decreases the formation of lung metastases <italic>in vivo</italic>. Thus, the sialic acid pathway may be a new target against metastatic breast cancer.</p>