Cancer Science & Therapy

Selective Inhibition of Lactate Influx in Cancer: An Opportunity to Augment Therapeutic Targeting

Abstract

Shanmugasundaram Ganapathy-Kanniappan

I read with great interest the article by Draoui et al., on a new class of inhibitors of lactate influx in cancer [1]. The authors report characterization of a novel compound, 7-amino carboxycoumarin (7-ACC), which specifically inhibits one of the members of monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs), the MCT-1. Using the substrate mimetic, an analog of pyruvate, the authors also demonstrate that 7-ACC selectively blocks lactate-influx and does not interfere with the uptake of the mimetic thus establishing the molecular specificity of 7-ACC in the inhibition of lactate uptake.