Comparison of Cell-death Kinetics of Recombinant Methioninase (rMETase)-treated Cancer and Normal Cells: Only Cancer Cells Undergo Methionine-depletion Catastrophe at Low rMETase Concentrations

Cancer cells were significantly more sensitive to rMETase than normal cells, with an acute loss of cell viability observed in cancer cells after eight days of treatment at concentrations of 0.5 U/ml or higher. These findings highlight the large difference in sensitivity between cancer and normal cells to rMETase and introduce the phenomenon of acute cell death in methionine restriction, which we term "methionine-depletion catastrophe".