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Cancer Metabolism

Section edited by Violena Pietrobon and Mia Stanic

© © natali_mis / stock.adobeTumor cells reprogram nutrient acquisition and metabolic pathways to support abnormal growth and metastasis, a dysfunctional process that is a hallmark of cancer. 

The Cancer Metabolism section will offer a solid framework to promote and disseminate innovative studies examining metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells, including fatty acid, mitochondrial, glycolytic and other metabolic networks.

We are interested in research that investigates and characterizes metabolic alterations in tumors at the molecular level by explaining why this reprogramming occurs and identifying links between such phenomena and cell proliferation and metastasis. We will also consider studies regarding the correlation between genomic mutations, gene expression, epigenetic regulation and metabolic pathway alterations. Of particular interest are investigations focused on translational and clinical aspects and those regarding metabolically targeted pharmacological therapies, with emphasis on patient responsiveness.

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  1. Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) are progenitors of endothelial cells with significant proliferative and angiogenic ability. ECFCs are a promising treatment option for various diseases, such as ischemi...

    Authors: Yaqiong Liu, Caomhán J. Lyons, Christine Ayu and Timothy O’Brien
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:313
  2. The activation of glycolysis, particularly in the context of reprogrammed energy metabolism, is increasingly recognized as a significant characteristic of cancer. However, the precise mechanisms by which glyco...

    Authors: Wei Zhou, Mengyuan Tang, Dan He, Yi Shen, Ziwei Huang, Wenxin Xia, Zhiyun Wu, Wenxiang Wei, Hui Zheng, Qi Wang, Weifeng Shi and Jingting Jiang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:283
  3. Mitophagy, a prominent cellular homeostasis process, has been implicated in modulating endothelial cell function. Emerging evidence suggests that extracellular vesicles (EVs) participate in intercellular commu...

    Authors: Xiang Ying, Xiaocui Zheng, Xiaoqian Zhang, Yujia Yin and Xipeng Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:267
  4. Bioactive lipids involved in the progression of various diseases. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of biomarkers and relative regulatory targets. The lipidomic analysis of the samples from platinum-resistan...

    Authors: Menglin Chen, Cancan Zhang, Huaizhi Li, Shanshan Zheng, Yaqi Li, Mengyun Yuan, Yuxuan Chen, Jian Wu and Qingmin Sun
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:249
  5. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive primary brain tumor, that is refractory to standard treatment and to immunotherapy with immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Noteworthy, melanoma brain metas...

    Authors: Maria Fortunata Lofiego, Francesca Piazzini, Francesca Pia Caruso, Francesco Marzani, Laura Solmonese, Emma Bello, Fabrizio Celesti, Maria Claudia Costa, Teresa Noviello, Roberta Mortarini, Andrea Anichini, Michele Ceccarelli, Sandra Coral, Anna Maria Di Giacomo, Michele Maio and Alessia Covre
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:223
  6. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is known for abnormal lipid metabolism and widespread activation of HIF-2α. Recently, the importance of autophagy in ccRCC has been focused, and it has potential connect...

    Authors: Yu Huang, Zhiyong Xiong, Jianjun Wang, Yafen Gao, Qi Cao, Decai Wang, Jian Shi, Zhixian Chen and Xiong Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:212
  7. Although the long-term prognosis of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is favorable, distant metastasis significantly compromises the prognosis and quality of life for patients with PTC. The Cadherin family plays ...

    Authors: Luyao Wu, Jian Xiao, Dandan Yi, Haoran Ding, Ru Wang, Zehua Duan, Zhijian Liu, Xianbiao Shi, Meiping Shen and Jianfeng Sang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:201
  8. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by aggressive progression and elevated mortality rates. This study aimed to investigate the regulatory effects of RBBP7 on HCC pathogenesis and the underlying me...

    Authors: Yuan Fang, WeiQiang Tang, Siming Qu, ZhiTao Li, XiaoLi Zhang, YingLei Miao, Zhong Zeng and HanFei Huang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:170
  9. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a major risk factor of gastric cancer (GC). The SUMO-activating enzyme SAE1(SUMO-activating enzyme subunit 1), which is indispensable for protein SUMOylation, involves in human ...

    Authors: Liu Shi, Jianfang Shangguan, Ying Lu, Jianfang Rong, Qinyu Yang, Yihan Yang, Chuan Xie and Xu Shu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:148
  10. Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignant tumors affecting the male genitourinary system. However, there is currently a lack of effective treatments for patients with advanced prostate cancer, ...

    Authors: Zefeng Wang, Zheng Chao, Qi Wang, Fan Zou, Tianbao Song, Lizhe Xu, Jinzhuo Ning and Fan Cheng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:104
  11. Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (pNENs) are relatively rare. Hypoxia and lipid metabolism-related gene acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2) is involved in tumor progression, but its role in pNENs is not reveale...

    Authors: Danyang Gu, Mujie Ye, Guoqin Zhu, Jianan Bai, Jinhao Chen, Lijun Yan, Ping Yu, Feiyu Lu, Chunhua Hu, Yuan Zhong, Pengfei Liu, Qibin He and Qiyun Tang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:93
  12. The cancer-immunity cycle (CI cycle) provides a theoretical framework to illustrate the process of the anticancer immune response. Recently, the update of the CI cycle theory emphasizes the importance of tumor...

    Authors: Ying Hu, Huaibo Sun, Wei Shi, Chen Chen, Xueying Wu, Yu Jiang, Guoying Zhang, Na Li, Jin Song, Hao Zhang, Baiyong Shen, Hui Zeng and Henghui Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:69
  13. Angiogenesis is essential for tissue repair in ischemic diseases, relying on glycolysis as its primary energy source. Prolyl 4-hydroxylase subunit alpha 1 (P4HA1), the catalytic subunit of collagen prolyl 4-hy...

    Authors: Yating Xu, Di Xia, Kai Huang and Minglu Liang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:74
  14. Bladder cancer (BLCA) is the most frequent malignant tumor of the genitourinary system. Postoperative chemotherapy drug perfusion and chemotherapy are important means for the treatment of BLCA. However, once d...

    Authors: Lijie Zhou, Kaixuan Du, Yiheng Dai, Youmiao Zeng, Yongbo Luo, Mengda Ren, Wenbang Pan, Yuanhao Liu, Lailai Zhang, Ronghui Zhu, Dapeng Feng, Fengyan Tian and Chaohui Gu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:55
  15. Ovarian cancer (OC) is a malignant neoplasm that displays increased vascularization. Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) is a secreted glycoprotein that functions as a regulator of cell metabolism and angiogenesis a...

    Authors: Yu-kun Li, An-bo Gao, Tian Zeng, Dan Liu, Qun-feng Zhang, Xiao-min Ran, Zhen-zi Tang, Yan Li, Jue Liu, Ting Zhang, Gang-qing Shi, Wen-chao Zhou, Wen-da Zou, Juan Peng, Juan Zhang, Hui Li…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:46
  16. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a leading life-threatening health challenge worldwide, with pressing needs for novel therapeutic strategies. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1), a well-established pro-cancer e...

    Authors: Xin Tracy Liu, Yu Huang, Da Liu, Yingxin Celia Jiang, Min Zhao, Long Hoa Chung, Xingxing Daisy Han, Yinan Zhao, Jinbiao Chen, Paul Coleman, Ka Ka Ting, Collin Tran, Yingying Su, Claude Vincent Dennis, Atul Bhatnagar, Ken Liu…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:43
  17. Tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells can reside in the tumor microenvironment and are considered the primary response cells to immunotherapy. Heterogeneity in functional status and spatial distribution may contri...

    Authors: Guanqun Yang, Siqi Cai, Mengyu Hu, Chaozhuo Li, Liying Yang, Wei Zhang, Jujie Sun, Fenghao Sun, Ligang Xing and Xiaorong Sun
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:27
  18. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the predominant malignancy of the oral cavity, is characterized by high incidence and low survival rates. Emerging evidence suggests a link between circadian rhythm disrupt...

    Authors: Yafan Chen, Zhengyang Han, Le Zhang, Caihong Gao, Jingyi Wei, Xuyuan Yang, Yabing Han, Yunbo Li, Chunmei Zhang, Yixin Wei, Jiaqi Dong, Wenxing Xun, Weifu Sun, Taotao Zhang, Hui Zhang, Jingtao Chen…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:21
  19. Bladder cancer is very common worldwide. PIGT is a subunit of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol transamidase which involves in tumorigenesis and invasiveness. m6A modification of mRNA has been linked to cell pr...

    Authors: Mingyue Tan, Qi Pan, Chao Yu, Xinyu Zhai, Jianyi Gu, Le Tao and Dongliang Xu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:5
  20. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) accounts for about 15% of primary liver cancer, and the incidence rate has been rising in recent years. Surgical resection is the best treatment for ICC, but the 5-year su...

    Authors: Huhu Zhang, Xiaolei Dong, Xiaoyan Ding, Guoxiang Liu, Fanghao Yang, Qinghang Song, Hongxiao Sun, Guang Chen, Shuang Li, Ya Li, Mengjun Wang, Tingting Guo, Zhe Zhang, Bing Li and Lina Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:900
  21. Glioblastoma (GBM) comprises 45.6% of all primary malignant brain cancers and is one of the most common and aggressive intracranial tumors in adults. Intratumoral heterogeneity with a wide range of proteomic, ...

    Authors: Christian K. Ramsoomair, Michele Ceccarelli, John D. Heiss and Ashish H. Shah
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:893
  22. The role of cholesterol metabolism in gastric cancer (GC) and its implications for tumor characteristics and immunotherapy response remain poorly understood. In this study, our aim was to investigate this role...

    Authors: Wei Tang, Guanghua Li, Qi Lin, Zhenzhen Zhu, Zhao Wang and Zhixiong Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:887
  23. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by a hypoxic microenvironment, a high rate of heterogeneity as well as a high likelihood of recurrence. Mounting evidence has affirmed that long non-cod...

    Authors: Yunhui Zhou, Xinyi Zhou, Qiwen Ben, Ningning Liu, Jiahui Wang, Yongpeng Zhai, Yichen Bao and Lin Zhou
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:882
  24. ND630 is believed to be a new therapy pharmacologic molecule in targeting the expression of ACACA and regulating the lipid metabolism. However, the function of ND630 in prostate cancer remains unknown. KIF18B,...

    Authors: Yu-Peng Wu, Wen-Cai Zheng, Qi Huang, Xu-Yun Huang, Fei Lin, Zhi-Bin Ke, Qi You, Qing-Shui Zheng, Yong Wei, Xue-Yi Xue and Ning Xu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:877
  25. Tumor cells with stemness in breast cancer might facilitate the immune microenvironment’s suppression process and led to anti-tumor immune effects. The primary objective of this study was to identify potential...

    Authors: Qihang Yuan, Xiaona Lu, Hui Guo, Jiaao Sun, Mengying Yang, Quentin Liu and Mengying Tong
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:871
  26. Prostate cancer (PC) is a heterogenous multifocal disease ranging from indolent to lethal states. For improved treatment-stratification, reliable approaches are needed to faithfully differentiate between high-...

    Authors: Ilona Dudka, Kristina Lundquist, Pernilla Wikström, Anders Bergh and Gerhard Gröbner
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:860
  27. The prognosis of patients with lung cancer accompanied by interstitial pneumonia is poorer than that of patients with lung cancer but without interstitial pneumonia. Moreover, the available therapeutic interve...

    Authors: Kiyofumi Shimoji, Taku Nakashima, Takeshi Masuda, Masashi Namba, Shinjiro Sakamoto, Kakuhiro Yamaguchi, Yasushi Horimasu, Takahiro Mimae, Shintaro Miyamoto, Hiroshi Iwamoto, Kazunori Fujitaka, Hironobu Hamada, Morihito Okada and Noboru Hattori
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:857
  28. LIPH, a membrane-associated phosphatidic acid-selective phospholipase A1a, can produce LPA (Lysophosphatidic acid) from PA (Phosphatidic acid) on the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane. It is well known that...

    Authors: Lijie Han, Yongsheng Jiang, Minmin Shi, Lina Gan, Zhichong Wu, Meilin Xue, Youwei Zhu, Cheng Xiong, Ting Wang, Xiaozhu Lin, Baiyong Shen, Lingxi Jiang and Hao Chen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:838
  29. Glycolytic metabolic reprogramming is a phenomenon in which cells undergo altered metabolic patterns during malignant transformation, mainly involving various aspects of glycolysis, electron transport chain, o...

    Authors: Hongying Zhao, Rongke Jiang, Zhijing Feng, Xue Wang and Chunmei Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:833
  30. UV-induced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is one of the most common skin cancers. The constant alterations of the lymphatic-centered immune microenvironment are essential in transforming from photoag...

    Authors: Yuling L. Yang, Chu Zhou, Qi Chen, Shuzhan Z. Shen, Jiandan D. Li, Xiuli L. Wang and Peiru R. Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:820
  31. The protein tyrosine phosphatase H receptor (PTPRH) is known to regulate the occurrence and development of pancreatic and colorectal cancer. However, its association with glycolysis in non-small cell lung canc...

    Authors: Shu Wang, Zhiming Cheng, Yan Cui, Shuoyan Xu, Qiu Luan, Shan Jing, Bulin Du, Xuena Li and Yaming Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:819
  32. The pivotal role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in the initiation and advancement of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is widely acknowledged, as it fosters the proliferation and metastasis of HCC cells. Wit...

    Authors: Jingquan Huang, Qiulin Wu, David A. Geller and Yihe Yan
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:815
  33. Recent research shows that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the primary consumers of glucose in tumor tissue, surpassing that of tumor cells. Our previous studies revealed that inhibiting glucose uptake...

    Authors: Lei Wang, Yu-jie Wang, Rong Wang, Fu-lian Gong, Yu-huan Shi, Sheng-nan Li, Pan-pan Chen and Yong-fang Yuan
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:754
  34. The process of post-transcriptional regulation has been recognized to be significantly impacted by the presence of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification. As an m6A demethylase, ALKBH5 has been shown to contribute...

    Authors: Jinhao Chen, Mujie Ye, Jianan Bai, Zhihui Gong, Lijun Yan, Danyang Gu, Chunhua Hu, Feiyu Lu, Ping Yu, Lin Xu, Yan Wang, Ye Tian and Qiyun Tang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:741
  35. Although the incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing year by year, most patients, especially those with differentiated thyroid cancer, can usually be cured with surgery, radioactive iodine, and thyroid-stimu...

    Authors: Sai-li Duan, Min Wu, Zhe-Jia Zhang and Shi Chang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:735
  36. Promoting angiogenesis is crucial for tissue repair. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are endowed with the ability of paracrine secretion of various angiogenic cytokines and the differentiation p...

    Authors: Xiang Xiong, Liqin Yuan, Kai Yang and Xiancheng Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:732
  37. Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a multicentric tumor caused by Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) that leads to morbidity and mortality among people with HIV worldwide. KS commonly involves the skin but can occur in the...

    Authors: Ramya Ramaswami, Takanobu Tagawa, Guruswamy Mahesh, Anna Serquina, Vishal Koparde, Kathryn Lurain, Sarah Dremel, Xiaofan Li, Ameera Mungale, Alex Beran, Zoe Weaver Ohler, Laura Bassel, Andrew Warner, Ralph Mangusan, Anaida Widell, Irene Ekwede…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:653
  38. Pathological neovascularization plays a pivotal role in the onset and progression of tumors and neovascular eye diseases. Despite notable advancements in the development of anti-angiogenic medications that tar...

    Authors: Jun-Song Ren, Wen Bai, Jing-Juan Ding, Hui-Min Ge, Su-Yu Wang, Xi Chen and Qin Jiang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:651
  39. A major obstacle to the development of personalized therapies for gastric cancer (GC) is the prevalent heterogeneity at the intra-tumor, intra-patient, and inter-patient levels. Although the pathological stage...

    Authors: Ziqian Deng, Ting Guo, Jiwang Bi, Gangjian Wang, Ying Hu, Hong Du, Yuan Zhou, Shuqin Jia, Xiaofang Xing and Jiafu Ji
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:638
  40. Cancer cells are characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation and impaired bioenergetics. Sirtuins are a family of highly conserved enzymes that play a fundamental role in energy metabolism regulation. SIR...

    Authors: Benluvankar Varghese, Ugo Chianese, Lucia Capasso, Veronica Sian, Paola Bontempo, Mariarosaria Conte, Rosaria Benedetti, Lucia Altucci, Vincenzo Carafa and Angela Nebbioso
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:627
  41. Glycolysis under normoxic conditions, known as the Warburg effect, confers a selective advantage for the survival and proliferation of many tumors. In this study, we investigated the role of estrogen-related r...

    Authors: Tianxiao Wang, Yongjun Zhu, Lu Chen, WenXin Zhang, Huijie Qi, Xiaojin Shi, Mingkang Zhong, Haifei Chen and Qunyi Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:605
  42. Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women across the world. Tumor endothelial cells (TECs) and malignant cells are the major constituents of the tumor microenvironment (TME), but their origin and...

    Authors: Youxue Zhang, Fang Zhen, Yue Sun, Bing Han, Hongyi Wang, Yuhang Zhang, Huaixi Zhang and Jing Hu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:570
  43. Resistance to pemetrexed (PEM), a rare chemotherapeutic agent that can efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier, limits the therapeutic efficacy for patients with lung cancer brain metastasis (BM). Aldo-keto ...

    Authors: Wenzhe Duan, Wenwen Liu, Shengkai Xia, Yang Zhou, Mengyi Tang, Mingxin Xu, Manqing Lin, Xinyu Li and Qi Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:547
  44. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal tumor types worldwide. Glycosylation has shown promise in the study of tumor mechanisms and treatment. The glycosylation status of HCC and the underlyin...

    Authors: Da Man, Yifan Jiang, Deguo Zhang, Jingjing Wu, Bo Ding, Hanqing Liu, Guangming Xu, Jiahua Lu, Junnan Ru, Rongliang Tong, Shusheng Zheng, Diyu Chen and Jian Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:420
  45. Cancer metabolism influences multiple aspects of tumorigenesis and causes diversity across malignancies. Although comprehensive research has extended our knowledge of molecular subgroups in medulloblastoma (MB...

    Authors: Viktoria L. E. Funke, Carolin Walter, Viktoria Melcher, Lanying Wei, Sarah Sandmann, Marc Hotfilder, Julian Varghese, Natalie Jäger, Marcel Kool, David T. W. Jones, Stefan M. Pfister, Till Milde, Martin Mynarek, Stefan Rutkowski, Jochen Seggewiss, Daniela Jeising…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:363
  46. Reprogramming lipid metabolism for tumor metastasis is essential in breast cancer, and NUCB2/Nesfatin-1 plays a crucial role in regulating energy metabolism. Its high expression is associated with poor prognos...

    Authors: Siyi Ning, Caiying Liu, Kangtao Wang, Yubo Cai, Zhicheng Ning, Ming Li and Liang Zeng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:362

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:524

  47. Aberrant epigenetic remodeling events contribute to progression and metastasis of breast cancer (Bca). The specific mechanims that epigenetic factors rely on to mediate tumor aggressiveness remain unclear. We ...

    Authors: Sheng Gao, Wensheng Zhang, Jingjing Ma and Xiaojian Ni
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:220
  48. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a complex tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), the clinical value of which remains elusive. This study aimed to delineate the immune landscape of PDAC and determine...

    Authors: Kai Chen, Qi Wang, Xinxin Liu, Xiaodong Tian, Aimei Dong and Yinmo Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:210
  49. Chemotherapy (CT) is central to the treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), but drug toxicity and resistance place strong restrictions on treatment regimes. Fasting sensitizes cancer cells to a rang...

    Authors: Ioannis S. Pateras, Chloe Williams, Despoina D. Gianniou, Aggelos T. Margetis, Margaritis Avgeris, Pantelis Rousakis, Aigli-Ioanna Legaki, Peter Mirtschink, Wei Zhang, Konstantina Panoutsopoulou, Anastasios D. Delis, Stamatis N. Pagakis, Wei Tang, Stefan Ambs, Ulrika Warpman Berglund, Thomas Helleday…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:169