Open AccessMetabolomics in cancer research and emerging applications in clinical oncology
Author(s) -
Schmidt Daniel R.,
Patel Rutulkumar,
Kirsch David G.,
Lewis Caroline A.,
Vander Heiden Matthew G.,
Locasale Jason W.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ca: a cancer journal for clinicians
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 62.937
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1542-4863
pISSN - 0007-9235
DOI - 10.3322/caac.21670
Subject(s) - metabolomics , cancer , omics , bioinformatics , computational biology , medicine , cancer biomarkers , translational research , cancer cell , biology , pathology
Cancer has myriad effects on metabolism that include both rewiring of intracellular metabolism to enable cancer cells to proliferate inappropriately and adapt to the tumor microenvironment, and changes in normal tissue metabolism. With the recognition that fluorodeoxyglucose‐positron emission tomography imaging is an important tool for the management of many cancers, other metabolites in biological samples have been in the spotlight for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy. Metabolomics is the global analysis of small molecule metabolites that like other ‐omics technologies can provide critical information about the cancer state that are otherwise not apparent. Here, the authors review how cancer and cancer therapies interact with metabolism at the cellular and systemic levels. An overview of metabolomics is provided with a focus on currently available technologies and how they have been applied in the clinical and translational research setting. The authors also discuss how metabolomics could be further leveraged in the future to improve the management of patients with cancer.