Global S&T Development Trend Analysis Platform of Resources and Environment
Metastasis requires cancer cells to undergo metabolic changes that are poorly understood(1-3). Here we show that metabolic differences among melanoma cells confer differences in metastatic potential as a result of differences in the function of the MCT1 transporter. In vivo isotope tracing analysis in patient-derived xenografts revealed differences in nutrient handling between efficiently and inefficiently metastasizing melanomas, with circulating lactate being a more prominent source of tumour lactate in efficient metastasizers. Efficient metastasizers had higher levels of MCT1, and inhibition of MCT1 reduced lactate uptake. MCT1 inhibition had little effect on the growth of primary subcutaneous tumours, but resulted in depletion of circulating melanoma cells and reduced the metastatic disease burden in patient-derived xenografts and in mouse melanomas. In addition, inhibition of MCT1 suppressed the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway and increased levels of reactive oxygen species. Antioxidants blocked the effects of MCT1 inhibition on metastasis. MCT1(high) and MCT1(-/low) cells from the same melanomas had similar capacities to form subcutaneous tumours, but MCT1(high) cells formed more metastases after intravenous injection. Metabolic differences among cancer cells thus confer differences in metastatic potential as metastasizing cells depend on MCT1 to manage oxidative stress.
Pottery is one of the most commonly recovered artefacts from archaeological sites. Despite more than a century of relative dating based on typology and seriation(1), accurate dating of pottery using the radiocarbon dating method has proven extremely challenging owing to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues(2-4). Here we report a method to directly date archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry analysis of C-14 in absorbed food residues using palmitic (C-16:0) and stearic (C-18:0) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography(5-8). We present accurate compound-specific radiocarbon determinations of lipids extracted from pottery vessels, which were rigorously evaluated by comparison with dendrochronological dates(9,10) and inclusion in site and regional chronologies that contained previously determined radiocarbon dates on other materials(11-15). Notably, the compound-specific dates from each of the C-16:0 and C-18:0 fatty acids in pottery vessels provide an internal quality control of the results(6) and are entirely compatible with dates for other commonly dated materials. Accurate radiocarbon dating of pottery vessels can reveal: (1) the period of use of pottery
Using lipid residues absorbed in potsherds, the ages of pottery from various archaeological sites are determined and validated using sites for which the dates are well known from other methods.