Targeting Altered Metabolism-Emerging Cancer Therapeutic Strategies
Abstract
Since the first theorization of the Warburg effect as a metabolic characteristic of cancer, a great deal of progress has been made in the understanding of molecular details underlying the metabolic alterations that cancer cells evolved for survival and proliferation. It has been demonstrated that not only aerobic glycolysis but also glutaminolysis is prominently activated in cancer. Such metabolic alterations are achieved through oncogenic activation of gene expressions of certain isotypes of proteins, which are related to those metabolic pathways. Cancer cells have also evolved mechanisms to deal with oxidative stress, which increases from altered metabolism under the influence of impaired mitochondria. These new findings added new theoretical paradigms and new drug target proteins to the strategies for cancer therapy. In this chapter, the new understandings in cancer metabolism and the inhibitors being developed are discussed. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.