Architectural control of metabolic plasticity in epithelial cancer cells

Abstract

To understand the role of architectural environment on metabolic plasticity of cancer cells, Al Masri et al. compare the metabolic activities of cancer cells grown in 2D vs 3D. They find that cells cultivated in 2D are highly glycolytic and dependent on glucose and glutamine for growth, while cells cultivated in 3D have extensive metabolic plasticity, and are able to maintain growth even in glucose or amino acid depleted environment.