Fig. 6

Major mechanisms through which asparagine affects the development of lung cancer. ASNS expression is increased in lung cancer cells and its downregulation directly caused cell-cycle arrest at the G1 phase. The synthesis of asparagine is then reduced, inducing autophagy and apoptosis in lung cancer cells. Under the regulation of KRAS, lung cancer cells promote the synthesis of asparagine by initiating stress responses, which further rescue cells from apoptosis. In addition, lung cancer cells with ASNS mutation cannot synthesize asparagine successfully, but facilitates the invasion and metastasis of lung cancer cells through the AKT-dependent pathway