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Cancer metabolomics in basic science perspective

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Abstract

As metabolomics investigates metabolic pathways with the focus on metabolites, it is a suitable approach to address the complex metabolic alteration in cancer. In addition, metabolic profiles are affected by environmental and post-natal changes, and therefore, directly measuring many metabolites may provide epigenetically relevant information in cancer. Despite much development in our understanding of cancer metabolism, focus is often directed to signaling or metabolic proteins that modulate the metabolite levels. In this review, we discuss the “metabolite-oriented view” on cancer metabolism. We cover how metabolomics research contributed to our current insights into the basic mechanism of metabolic alterations leading to cancer. Then, we discuss specific metabolites and related enzymatic pathways directly related with tumorigenesis. We particularly pay attention to how metabolites regulate signaling proteins and metabolic enzymes ultimately leading to cancer phenotypes. Finally, we address future prospects and challenges of metabolomics in cancer research.

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Abbreviations

2HG:

2-Hydroxyglutarate

α-KG:

α-Ketoglutarate

FH:

Fumarate hydratase

G6P:

Glucose 6-phosphate

G6PDH:

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase

GLDC:

Glycine dehydrogenase

GLS:

Glutaminase

HIF-1α:

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha

HK:

Hexokinase

IDH:

Isocitrate dehydrogenase

IL-12:

Interleukin 12

KDMs:

Histone lysine demethylases

KEAP1:

Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1

LDH:

Lactate dehydrogenase

ME:

Malate dehydrogenase

mIDH:

Isocitrate dehydrogenase mutant

MMP-2:

Matrix metallopeptidase 2

MTHFD:

Methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase

NF-κB/IL-8:

Nuclear transcription factor-κB/Interleukin-8

Nrf-2:

Nuclear factor-like 2

PDH:

Prolyl hydroxylase

PEP:

Phosphoenolpyruvate

PHGDH:

Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase

PKM2:

Pyruvate kinase M2

PPP:

Pentose phosphate pathway

PSAT1:

Phosphoserine aminotransferase

SDH:

Succinate dehydrogenase

SHMT:

Serine hydroxymethyltransferase

TETs:

TET methylcytosine hydroxylases

TGF-β2:

Transforming growth factor-beta 2

VEGF:

Vascular endothelial growth factor

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control (1420290) and from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012011362).

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, Natural Product Research Institute, Seoul National University, Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Hyuknam Kwon, Sehyun Oh, Xing Jin, Yong Jin An & Sunghyouk Park

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Kwon, H., Oh, S., Jin, X. et al. Cancer metabolomics in basic science perspective. Arch. Pharm. Res. 38, 372–380 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-015-0552-4

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