JERUSALEM, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have developed a method for monitoring metabolic processes in different areas of cancer cells, the Israel Institute of Technology reported on Monday.

In the research published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers showed a method for tracking paces of metabolic reactions at sub-cellular resolution, particularly mitochondria, the cell's "power station" and cytosol, the fluid in the cell.

The metabolism's essential process allows the cell to generate energy and produce molecules needed for its development and survival.

This process is very different in the cancerous cells, as they divide uncontrollably. Their rapid growth and fragmentation reduces the oxygen and nutrients available for them, and requires reprogramming of the metabolic processes.

Successful monitoring of these metabolic changes may lead to the development of specific anti-cancer drugs that will impair the metabolic processes necessary to sustain the cancerous tissue.

Cell metabolism's monitoring is not simple, as it is a very complex process involving thousands of genes and metabolic enzymes. In addition, different areas of the cell maintain different metabolic processes.

The researchers used a new technology, which combines biological and computational methods, to study a mutation that affects mitochondrial activity in cancer cells.

The researchers found a unique backup mechanism that allows cancer cells to overcome mitochondrial mutation damage and survive through unknown metabolic activity.

"Understanding this mechanism ... paves the way for medical treatment to neutralize it. If we hit this backup mechanism of mutated cancer cells, we could kill them without harming healthy cells," the researchers said. Enditem

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