l.c.c . owns equity in , receives compensation from , and serves on the board of directors and scientific advisory board of agios pharmaceut - icals . agios pharmaceuticals is identifying metabolic pathways of cancer 135 cells and developing drugs to inhibit such enzymes in order to disrupt tumor cell growth and survival . was partially supported by a pancan - aacr pathway to leadership award and a dale f. frey award for breakthrough scientists from the damon runyon cancer research foundation ( dfs-09 - 14 ) .
abstractserine metabolism is likely to play a critical role in cancer cell growth . 
 a recent study reports the identification of a novel small - molecule inhibitor of serine synthesis that targets 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase ( phgdh ) , the first enzyme of the serine synthesis pathway , and selectively abrogates the proliferation of phgdh overexpressing breast cancer cells .