# Glycine metabolism in cancer - Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research; Velasco

> **NIH NIH R00** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2020 · $42,552

## Abstract

Project Summary – Parent Award R00CA215307
Cancer cells have a distinct metabolism that supports their pathological proliferation. Targeting this metabolism
has led to many of the existing chemotherapies in the clinic today such as antifolates. The amino acid glycine
is primarily produced by folate metabolism, a pathway that is nearly universally upregulated in cancer. Glycine
supports important biosynthetic processes including protein, purine and glutathione synthesis. In addition,
glycine catabolic processes have recently been shown to be important in cancer stem cells and glioblastoma.
In newly published data, I demonstrated that glycine-supported antioxidant production is crucial for cancer cell
growth. This proposal seeks to quantitatively characterize glycine metabolism in cancer and to test the
hypothesis that folate-mediated glycine synthesis supports glutathione production and thus redox homeostasis.
In these efforts, I will benefit from a new small molecule that I discovered, which potently inhibits both isozymes
of the glycine synthetic enzyme SHMT.
In Aim 1, I will use isotope tracers to quantitate glycine production and consumption fluxes in normal and
cancer cells, and apply these findings in vivo. I will further use these techniques to identify the membrane
transporters that facilitate glycine entry into the cell. In Aim 2, I will test whether changing glycine availability in
vivo affects tumor progression. I will do this pharmacologically with an optimized in vivo active SHMT inhibitor
in models of hematological malignancy and through diet by modulating the amino acid content in food.
Collectively, these experiments will lay the groundwork for targeting of glycine metabolism as a new
therapeutic approach in cancer. Supported in my new tenure-track position at the University of Utah, this
proposal will launch my independent research career.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10064354
- **Project number:** 3R00CA215307-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Gregory S Ducker
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $42,552
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-12-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10064354

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10064354, Glycine metabolism in cancer - Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research; Velasco (3R00CA215307-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10064354. Licensed CC0.

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