Cancer's fuel duel

A team of Belgian and U.S. researchers has demonstrated that hypoxic tumor cells can be killed by targeting solute carrier family 16, member 1 (monocarboxylic acid transporter 1), a membrane lactate transporter protein expressed on oxygenated tumor cells. The approach should mesh well with existing chemo- and radiotherapies, and systemic inhibition of the transporter is not likely to have severe side effects.

For more than 50 years it has been known that the tumor microenvironment consists of two distinct compartments-the oxygenated compartment, which is located near tumor blood vessels, and the hypoxic compartment, which is typically located near the tumor core. Hypoxic tumor cells are difficult to target with conventional chemo- and radiotherapies because of their low-oxygen environment and distance from blood vessels...