The enzymatic mechanism mediating the breakdown of glycogen in hypoxic tumor cells

Poster presentation - Theme 2: Cancer & other diseasesGlycogen has been recently implicated as a major source of metabolic fuel for hypoxic tumor cells. The biochemical mechanism underlying the breakdown of glycogen to produce the substrate for glycolysis though is not fully understood. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the potential role of glycogen phosphorylase or α-glucosidase in mediating breakdown of intracellular glycogen in hypoxic tumor cells. The deprivation of glucose in normoxic tumor cells over a period of 6 hours resulted in marked reduction of intracellular glycogen level. Imposing hypoxia (1% O2) on these cells during ...postprin