AMPK Keeps Tumor Cells from Starving to Death

In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Saito et al. (2015) examine how leukemia-initiating cells react to metabolic stress imposed by different tissue environments. They find that inhibition of the metabolic stress sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) led to deranged glucose metabolism and redox homeostasis, resulting in reduced leukemic progression that was further attenuated by dietary restriction