Glycine Decarboxylase Cleaves a “Malignant” Metabolic Path to Promote Tumor Initiation

Tumor-initiating cells (TICs) are thought to be critical for promoting tumorigenesis. In a recent Cell article, Zhang and colleagues found that non-small cell lung cancer TICs overexpress the metabolic enzyme glycine decarboxylase, which leads to increases in pyrimidine synthesis and is critical for proliferation and tumor initiation.