Colorectal cancer cells regain proliferation after prolonged glucose deprivation in culture
Published in Biology, Journals.
Published October 31, 2026.
Some colorectal cancer cells can survive prolonged glucose deprivation and eventually resume dividing, according to laboratory research published October 30 in Cell Death Discovery.
When glucose was removed from the culture medium, part of the cell population died. Surviving cells initially entered a dormant, senescence-like state with growth arrest, oxidative stress and DNA damage. After approximately one month, a subset recovered sustained proliferation despite continued glucose deprivation.
The resistant population maintained mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and showed adaptations involving antioxidant defenses and stress-response pathways. Experimental disruption of redox control, mitochondrial fatty-acid use or PERK-associated stress signaling impaired survival or longer-term growth.
The findings illustrate metabolic adaptation in cancer cell cultures. They do not test dietary sugar restriction in patients or demonstrate that changing food intake reproduces glucose-free laboratory conditions.
The dormant state was described as senescence-like; its later recovery also cautions against assuming that growth arrest necessarily means permanent elimination of cancer cells.
Source: Levi, B., Das, S.R., Cohen-Harazi, R. et al., Cell Death Discovery, October 30, 2026. Read the original study.