PKM2 modulation regulates leukemia cell survival
Nikolina Vrdoljak, Ekaterina N. Parfenova, Alessia Roma, Drake A. Mosca, Mark D. Minden, Paul A. Spagnuolo · 2026
Read PKM2 modulation regulates leukemia cell survival by Nikolina Vrdoljak, Ekaterina N. Parfenova, Alessia Roma, Drake A. Mosca, Mark D. Minden, Paul A. Spagnuolo (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13499311.txt.
Description
Nikolina Vrdoljak and colleagues probe in 2026 a metabolic enzyme that acute myeloid leukaemia cells rely on in an unusual form. Leukaemia cells shift toward sugar fermentation for energy, and they swap a highly active enzyme form for a weaker one, called PKM2, which also helps switch genes on in the nucleus. Levels of this form were higher in leukaemia cells while overall enzyme activity ran lower than in healthy blood cells.
Genetic and drug experiments in cell and animal models showed a striking pattern, since pushing activity down and pushing it up both harmed the cancer. Either move disturbed the protein's natural grouping, kept it out of the nucleus, lowered a key growth gene's output, and ended in cell death. The finding marks the enzyme's balanced state, rather than its simple presence, as the vulnerability worth targeting.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Nikolina Vrdoljak, Ekaterina N. Parfenova, Alessia Roma, Drake A. Mosca, Mark D. Minden, Paul A. Spagnuolo |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 43 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |