Benzylserine inhibits breast cancer cell growth by disrupting intracellular amino acid homeostasis and triggering amino acid response pathways

Cancer cells require increased levels of nutrients such as amino acids to sustain their rapid growth. In particular, leucine and glutamine have been shown to be important for growth and proliferation of some breast cancers, and therefore targeting the primary cell-surface transporters that mediate their uptake, L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) and alanine, serine, cysteine-preferring transporter 2 (ASCT2), is a potential therapeutic strategy.