Cancer metabolism articles within Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology

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  • Review Article |

    Copper is an essential trace element with inherent redox properties and fundamental roles in a diverse range of biological processes; therefore, maintaining copper homeostasis is crucial. In this Review, the authors discuss new insights into the mechanisms by which disrupted copper homeostasis contributes to tumour initiation and development, including the recently defined concepts of cuproplasia (copper-dependent cell growth and proliferation) and cuproptosis (a mitochondrial pathway of cell death triggered by excessive copper exposure). They also discuss potential strategies to exploit cuproplasia and cuproptosis for the treatment of cancer.

    • Daolin Tang
    • , Guido Kroemer
    •  & Rui Kang

  • Review Article |

    A high serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level is generally associated with an inferior outcome in patients with most tumour types. LDH is also known to have immunosuppressive and/or tumour-promoting effects, suggesting a potentially broader role for this enzyme in clinical oncology. In this Review, the authors provide a holistic overview of the current role of LDH in both cancer biology and oncology, and highlight possible areas of future research interest, including the development of novel therapies targeting LDH.

    • Giuseppina Claps
    • , Sara Faouzi
    •  & Caroline Robert

  • Review Article |

    Several PI3K pathway inhibitors are currently approved as cancer treatments; however, finding an acceptable therapeutic window to target this key signalling cascade linking cancer growth with metabolism has proven challenging and the clinical results to date have arguably been disappointing. In this Review, Vasan and Cantley discuss the effects of PI3K pathway alterations on signalling and metabolism in solid tumours as well as past and present efforts to improve the somewhat limited clinical efficacy of PI3K pathway inhibitors, with a particular focus on PI3Kα in breast cancers.

    • Neil Vasan
    •  & Lewis C. Cantley

  • Review Article |

    Patients receiving cytotoxic therapies for cancer have an increased risk of cognitive and functional decline that is usually associated with ageing. In this Review, the authors describe how cancer therapies can enhance physiological ageing processes and highlight the potential for interventions that could potentially ameliorate these long-term adverse events in patients receiving active treatment for cancer and in cancer survivors.

    • Judith E. Carroll
    • , Julienne E. Bower
    •  & Patricia A. Ganz

  • Review Article |

    A high tumour burden has long been associated with inferior outcomes on traditional cancer therapies and emerging evidence suggests that tumour burden is particularly relevant for patients receiving immune-checkpoint inhibitors. Here, the authors summarize the available clinical and preclinical evidence for the role of tumour burden in determining the outcomes of patients receiving immune-checkpoint inhibitors and highlight areas that are likely to be of future research interest in this emerging area.

    • Filippo G. Dall’Olio
    • , Aurélien Marabelle
    •  & Benjamin Besse

  • Review Article |

    Immune-checkpoint inhibitors have dramatically improved the outcomes in patients with advanced-stage cancers, although the majority of patients will not respond to these agents. Here, the authors describe the potential of targeting emerging immunomodulatory pathways, with a focus on alternative immune checkpoints and tumour metabolism as approaches that might enable further improvements in the outcomes of patients with cancer, either as monotherapies or in combination with existing agents.

    • Lukas Kraehenbuehl
    • , Chien-Huan Weng
    •  & Taha Merghoub

  • Review Article |

    Cancer cells, like non-malignant cells, are dependent on folate uptake for growth. However, cancer cells are much more reliant on folate receptors (FRs) and particularly FRα for folate uptake than non-malignant cells. In this Review, the authors describe the available data on the role of FRα as a biomarker and as a target of imaging probes, and of targeted therapies in patients with solid tumours.

    • Mariana Scaranti
    • , Elena Cojocaru
    •  & Udai Banerji

  • Review Article |

    The metabolic conditions in tumours can result in phenotypic reprogramming of non-tumour cells, including immune cells, in the tumour microenvironment. This Review provides an overview of the pathways of cancer metabolism that intersect with immunometabolism, typically resulting in immunosuppression, with a focus on how these metabolic pathways could be targeted in order to enhance anticancer immunity and immunotherapy.

    • Xiaoyun Li
    • , Mathias Wenes
    •  & Ping-Chih Ho

  • Review Article |

    Many of the molecular pathways that are aberrant in brain tumours result in reprogramming of metabolism, which creates opportunities forin vivometabolic imaging to improve diagnosis, patient stratification, and disease monitoring. Herein, the molecular basis and strategies for non-invasive metabolic imaging of brain tumours are reviewed.

    • Michelle M. Kim
    • , Abhijit Parolia
    •  & Sriram Venneti

  • Review Article |

    Metabolic reprogramming to support tumour growth is a near universal characteristic of cancer, and thus targeting cancer metabolism has been, and continues to be, a focus for drug-development efforts. In this Review, the authors describe the various metabolic alterations and vulnerabilities of tumours that are potentially important targets for anticancer agents, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities.

    • Ubaldo E. Martinez-Outschoorn
    • , Maria Peiris-Pagés
    •  & Michael P. Lisanti

  • Review Article |

    Glioblastomas are difficult to treat, and patients have a poor prognosis. Knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of glioma has launched an era of targeted-therapies, which are discussed in this Review article. Biomarkers, novel trial design, and the identification of molecular subgroups are other advances that are explored here.

    • Shota Tanaka
    • , David N. Louis
    •  & Jorg Dietrich

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