Recent advances in cancer metabolism: a technological perspective

Abstract

Cancer: Tools for mapping malignant metabolism Researchers now have access to a rapidly growing number of tools for probing the metabolic abnormalities associated with tumor growth. Unrestrained growth puts special demands on cancer cells, and scientists have known for nearly a century that tumor metabolism differs considerably from healthy tissue metabolism. Gina DeNicola and colleagues at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, USA, have reviewed the technological tools available for monitoring the molecules that power cell growth and survival. These include mass spectrometry, which can generate an extremely detailed census of cellular metabolites in a single experiment. The authors also highlight techniques that can help ‘trap’ short-lived or unstable chemical intermediates for analysis. Other chemical labeling and tracing techniques can illuminate activity of selected metabolic processes in living tumor cells or even in patients, findings that could reveal therapeutic vulnerabilities.