Stem Cell Differentiation Depends on the Central Metabolic Regulator AMPK

Reintroduction of Tfeb into the dysfunctional cells restored normal development and differentiation.

"Even though there is great interest in AMPK related to diabetes and cancer, frankly nothing was known about how this fuel gauge process changes in different cell populations during development," said senior author Dr. Reuben Shaw, professor of molecular and cell biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. "It was thought that lysosomes and AMPK were connected somehow, but no one had dreamed that you would get no lysosomes if you do not have this fuel gauge. Connecting the AMPK pathway to lysosomes begs the question of whether this pathway is part of anticancer pathways as well. We are decoding some of these underlying connections that might indicate when and how a cancer drugs might be useful. This work may also help up make better, more specific ways of targeting lysosomes in cancer."

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Salk Institute for Biological Studies