Free Asparagine or Die: Cancer Cells Require Proteasomal Protein Breakdown to Survive Asparagine Depletion

The chemotherapeutic enzyme asparaginase depletes systemic asparagine to kill cancers; however, its efficacy thus far is limited to a subset of leukemias. Hinze and colleagues identify that inhibiting proteasomal release of asparagine can sensitize colorectal cancers to asparagine depletion, providing a potential avenue to repurpose asparaginase for treatment of solid tumors.See related article by Hinze et al., p. 1690.