AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 5 -- The University of Texas at Austin issued the following news release:
Cancer cells have a voracious appetite for sugar - using it to fuel their rapid growth. This is why many scientists have tried to develop drugs that block cancer cells' metabolism by cutting off their sugar supply.
In a study published in Nature Chemical Biology, a team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin demonstrated a fundamentally different approach to targeting cancer metabolism. Instead of starving cancer cells, they trick them into consuming even more sugar than usual. Then, at the same time, the drug blocks their backup fuel source - fat.
By attacking both fuel sources at once, the experimental drug puts cancer cells u...