Fig. 1

Glycolytic metabolism is highly diverted into the serine and glycine synthesis flux in PANC-1 cells. a and b Glucose consumption rates and pyruvate yield rates in different breast cancer, melanoma and pancreatic cancer cells in 24 h. c Schematic of glucose glycolytic metabolism divided into serine and glycine at 3-P-D-glycerate through PHGDH and SHMT1, and alanine at pyruvate through ALT respectively. d, e andf Carbon-unlabeled and labeled contents of alanine, serine and glycine in HMEC, MDA-MB-231, PANC-1 and SW1990 cells. g qRT-PCR and western blot analysis of the PHGDH and SHMT1 mRNA and protein levels in HMEC and PANC-1 cells. h Immunohistochemical analysis of PHGDH and SHMT1 expression levels in 24 pancreatic adenocarcinomas and 4 normal adjacent tissues. 4 representative cores with different malignancies are shown in the figure. Data are representative of at least three independent experiments. p value: Student’s t-test; ***p < 0.001. Columns: mean; bars: SD