Computer Program Analyzes Key Cancer Metabolites

Cancer researchers will be able to benefit from a computer-based method that analyzes cellular activity and predicts changes in levels of metabolites that are linked to the ability of cancer cells to proliferate.

Investigators at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA) have developed a computer program called CoMet (Computational Metabolomics), a fully automated method to predict changes in metabolite levels in cancer cells compared to normal references. They used CoMet to analyze Jurkat T leukemia cells, and the results were published in the June 17, 2008, online edition of the journal Molecular Cancer.

All nine metabolites predicted to be lowered in Jurkat cells with respect to normal lymphoblasts (riboflavin, tryptamine, 3-sulfino-L-alanine, menaquinone, dehydroepiandrosterone, alpha-hydroxystearic acid, hydroxyacetone, seleno-L-methionine and 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole), exhibited antiproliferative activity that has not been reported before, while only two (bilirubin and androsterone) of the eleven tested metabolites predicted to be increased or unchanged in Jurkat cells displayed significant antiproliferative activity.

"By comparing the gene expression levels of cancer cells relative to normal cells and converting that information into the enzymes that produce metabolites, CoMet predicts metabolites that have lower concentrations in cancer relative to normal cells. This opens up the possibility of novel therapeutics for cancer and develops our understanding of why such metabolites work. CoMet provides a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cancer,” said senior author Dr. Jeffery Skolnick, professor of biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology.


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