Chiu Ching-Feng, Guerrero Jonathan Jaime G, Regalado Ric Ryan H, Zhou Jiayan, Notarte Kin Israel, Lu Yu-Wei, Encarnacion Paolo C, Carles Cidne Danielle D, Octavo Edrian M, Limbaroc Dan Christopher I, Saengboonmee Charupong, Huang Shih-Yi
Graduate Institute of Metabolism and Obesity Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110301, Taiwan.
Taipei Medical University Research Center of Cancer Translational Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110301, Taiwan.
Cancers (Basel). 2024 Oct 17;16(20):3513. doi: 10.3390/cancers16203513.
Cancer remains a global health challenge, characterized not just by uncontrolled cell proliferation but also by the complex metabolic reprogramming that underlies its development and progression. This review delves into the intricate relationship between cancer and its metabolic alterations, drawing an innovative comparison with the cosmological concepts of dark matter and dark energy to highlight the pivotal yet often overlooked role of metabolic reprogramming in tumor evolution. It scrutinizes the Warburg effect and other metabolic adaptations, such as shifts in lipid synthesis, amino acid turnover, and mitochondrial function, driven by mutations in key regulatory genes. This review emphasizes the significance of targeting these metabolic pathways for therapeutic intervention, outlining the potential to disrupt cancer's energy supply and signaling mechanisms. It calls for an interdisciplinary research approach to fully understand and exploit the intricacies of cancer metabolism, pointing toward metabolic reprogramming as a promising frontier for developing more effective cancer treatments. By equating cancer's metabolic complexity with the enigmatic nature of dark matter and energy, this review underscores the critical need for innovative strategies in oncology, highlighting the importance of unveiling and targeting the "dark energy" within cancer cells to revolutionize future therapy and research.
癌症仍然是一项全球性的健康挑战，其特征不仅在于细胞的无节制增殖，还在于其发展和进展背后复杂的代谢重编程。本综述深入探讨了癌症与其代谢改变之间的复杂关系，通过与暗物质和暗能量的宇宙学概念进行创新性比较，以突出代谢重编程在肿瘤演变中关键但往往被忽视的作用。它审视了瓦氏效应以及其他代谢适应性变化，如由关键调控基因突变驱动的脂质合成、氨基酸周转和线粒体功能的改变。本综述强调了针对这些代谢途径进行治疗干预的重要性，概述了破坏癌症能量供应和信号传导机制的潜力。它呼吁采用跨学科研究方法来全面理解和利用癌症代谢的复杂性，指出代谢重编程是开发更有效癌症治疗方法的一个有前景的前沿领域。通过将癌症的代谢复杂性与暗物质和能量的神秘本质相提并论，本综述强调了肿瘤学中创新策略的迫切需求，突出了揭示和靶向癌细胞内“暗能量”以革新未来治疗和研究的重要性。
