Rosa Chiara Paolicelli and Christian Widmann
Accumulation of mutations in cancer cells is often leading to defective metabolic pathways that can lead to impaired abilities to produce certain metabolites. If these metabolites are required for cell growth or survival, the cells need to acquire them (or the corresponding precursors that they would be able to metabolize) exogenously. Such dependence on a specific exogenous supply is called auxotrophy. For instance, cancer cells that cannot synthesize cholesterol de novo, strongly depend on cholesterol uptake via LDL receptors (LDLRs) for their survival. This was reported to be the case for cells of the glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive malignant tumor of the brain, for which targeting cholesterol metabolism might represent an effective pharmacological treatment.