{
  "abstract": "Tumor cells must occupy and thrive in a competitive microenvironment marked by limited metabolites, including essential amino acids like methionine. Using a leukemia suppression model and CRISPR screening, we found that the choline transporter SLC44A1 is overexpressed in leukemia patients and impacts leukemogenesis. Choline is an important nutrient for membrane synthesis and less commonly contributes to the methionine cycle. A metabolic analysis demonstrated that metabolites of the methionine pathway are significantly elevated in leukemic cells. Surprisingly, dietary restriction of methionine accelerated leukemogenesis in vivo. Choline can serve as an alternative source for methionine via the enzymatic activity of CHDH and BHMT. Under restrictive methionine conditions, BHMT and CHDH are significantly upregulated. In vivo, BHMT and CHDH are necessary for leukemia progression where they utilize choline as an alternative source to satisfy increased methionine demand. This pathway represents a vulnerability in cancer cells that may be exploited for therapeutic intervention.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Pathology, University of Michigan",
    "Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan",
    "Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Wayne State University",
    "Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Michigan School of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center",
    "Indiana University School of Medicine",
    "Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan",
    "Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 19,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Nirmalya Saha"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Lauren Lachowski"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Franchesca Franzen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Sydney Alibeckoff"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Victor Vitvitsky"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Roshan Kumar"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Melanie Hutchings"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Malathi Kandarpa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hsiangyu Hu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "James Ropa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Marisa J. L. Aitken"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Mark Y. Chiang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Li Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Costas A. Lyssiotis"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Shannon A. Carty"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Moshe Talpaz"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Smiti Vaid Gupta"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ruma Banerjee"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Andrew G. Muntean"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5eek8f1xcy461.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.1038/s42003-026-10598-x",
  "fulltext_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10598-x",
  "id": "5eek8f1xcy461",
  "issns": [
    "2399-3642"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10598-x",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "QH301-705.5"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1306|Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7167078476",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-10598-x_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-07-01",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5eek8f1xcy461.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:46:18Z",
      "native_id": "053fd934b5e8476884039528c98c4b08",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10598-x"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:1306|Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Choline-dependent methionine metabolism supports leukemia progression",
  "title_text": "Choline-dependent methionine metabolism supports leukemia progression",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T14:20:50Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5eek8f1xcy461",
  "venue": "Communications Biology",
  "versions": []
}