Figure 6
From: Starvation-induced activation of ATM/Chk2/p53 signaling sensitizes cancer cells to cisplatin
Starvation selectively sensitizes human cancer cells to CDDP. In normal cells, serum starvation activates AMPK, which stabilizes p53 resulting in cell proliferation arrest. The processing of CDDP-DNA-adducts in proliferating cells results in DNA damage. Proliferation arrest may contribute to the inactivation of DNA damage response thus the tolerance of normal cells to CDDP. In cancer cells, serum starvation also activates ATM/Chk2/p53 signaling. The combination of CDDP with serum starvation results in the enhanced activation of the signaling and sensitizes cancer cells to CDDP.