Cited by 1,576Biochemical and Molecular ResearchRedox biology and oxidative stressCancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism

The return of metabolism: biochemistry and physiology of the pentose phosphate pathway

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Stincone, Anna, Prigione, Alessandro, Cramer, Thorsten, Wamelink, Mirjam M. C., Campbell, Kate, Cheung, Eric, Olin‐Sandoval, Viridiana, Grüning, Nana‐Maria +7 more·2015·Biological Reviews

Abstract

The pentose phosphate pathway ( PPP ) is a fundamental component of cellular metabolism. The PPP is important to maintain carbon homoeostasis, to provide precursors for nucleotide and amino acid biosynthesis, to provide reducing molecules for anabolism, and to defeat oxidative stress. The PPP shares reactions with the Entner–Doudoroff pathway and Calvin cycle and divides into an oxidative and non‐oxidative branch. The oxidative branch is highly active in most eukaryotes and converts glucose 6‐phosphate into carbon dioxide, ribulose 5‐phosphate and NADPH . The latter function is critical to maintain redox balance under stress situations, when cells proliferate rapidly, in ageing, and for the ‘Warburg effect’ of cancer cells. The non‐oxidative branch instead is virtually ubiquitous, and metabolizes the glycolytic intermediates fructose 6‐phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate as well as sedoheptulose sugars, yielding ribose 5‐phosphate for the synthesis of nucleic acids and sugar phosphate precursors for the synthesis of amino acids. Whereas the oxidative PPP is considered unidirectional, the non‐oxidative branch can supply glycolysis with intermediates derived from ribose 5‐phosphate and vice versa , depending on the biochemical demand. These functions require dynamic regulation of the PPP pathway that is achieved through hierarchical interactions between transcriptome, proteome and metabolome. Consequently, the biochemistry and regulation of this pathway, while still unresolved in many cases, are archetypal for the dynamics of the metabolic network of the cell. In this comprehensive article we review seminal work that led to the discovery and description of the pathway that date back now for 80 years, and address recent results about genetic and metabolic mechanisms that regulate its activity. These biochemical principles are discussed in the context of PPP deficiencies causing metabolic disease and the role of this pathway in biotechnology, bacterial and parasite infections, neurons, stem cell potency and cancer metabolism.

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  • KRAS promotes the non-oxidative arm of the pentose phosphate pathway, supplying ribose for nucleic acid production.

    “KRAS also promotes the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway (HBP), which provides precursors for lipid and protein glycosylation34, and the non-oxidative arm of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP)28, which supplies ribose, the backbone for nucleic acid production35 (Fig 2).”

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  1. Lyssiotis CA Anastasiou D Locasale JW Vander Heiden MG Christofk HR Cantley LC 2012 Cellular control mechanisms that regulate pyruvate kinase M2 activity and promote cancer growth Biomedical Journal 23 213 217

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Authors
Stincone, A., Prigione, A., Cramer, T., Wamelink, M. M. C., Campbell, K., Cheung, E., Olin‐Sandoval, V., Grüning, N., Krüger, A., Tauqeer Alam, M., Keller, M. A., Breitenbach, M., Brindle, K. M., Rabinowitz, J. D., & Ralser, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • Max Delbrück Center (DE)
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
  • Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
  • Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute (GB)
  • Department of Biochemistry University of Cambridge 80 Tennis Court Road Cambridge CB2 1GA U.K.
  • Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (DE)
  • University of Salzburg (AT)
  • Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
Ralser, Markus
Venue
Biological Reviews
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2014-09-22
Volume
90
Issue
3
Pages
927-963
ISSN
  • 0006-3231 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-7931
  • 1469-185X
OpenAlex
W1673751863
Cited by
1,576
References
416
Citations by year
2026: 219 · 2025: 229 · 2024: 216 · 2023: 188 · 2022: 164 · 2021: 167 · 2020: 119 · 2019: 87 · 2018: 71 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 44 · 2015: 23
FWCI
3.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
  • MDC Repository (Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
  • Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (RG 093735/Z/10/Z)
  • European Research Council (260809)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Biochemical and Molecular Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Redox biology and oxidative stress
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
Keywords
pentose phosphate pathway, oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, NADPH production, ribose-5-phosphate, redox homeostasis, oxidative stress, Warburg effect, cancer metabolism, Entner-Doudoroff pathway, Calvin cycle, metabolic regulation, metabolic disorders, nucleotide synthesis, amino acid biosynthesis, glycolysis, stem cell potency, neurons, bacterial infection, parasitic infection, biotechnology
MeSH terms
Humans, Metabolic Diseases, Metabolism, Pentose Phosphate Pathway

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