Tumor Cell Metabolic Reprogramming and Drug Targeting

Abstract

The metabolic network in cells promotes the generation of both energy and biomass needed for them to grow, divide, and differentiate. However, tumor cells exhibit significant differences from normal cells in their metabolism. Starting in the 1920s, Otto Warburg observed that tumors utilize glucose aerobically, leading predominantly to lactate generation at the expense of energy production, a phenomenon now known as the “Warburg effect.” Since then, the scientific community has confirmed and extended these observations. Together, this knowledge has prompted the drive toward novel approaches in the discovery of therapeutic agents targeting the reprogrammed metabolism of tumor cells by focusing on critical vulnerabilities in the metabolome. In this volume, the interplay between the cellular metabolic network, oncogenes, tumor suppressors, hypoxia, autophagy, and biosynthetic anabolism is discussed, and former and emerging approaches to drug development in targeting cancer cell metabolism are explored.