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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. To investigate the metabolic remodeling and functional specialization of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) of bone tumors, including Ewing’s sarcoma, osteosarcoma, and giant cell tumor of bo...

    Authors: Jun Chen, Na Cui, Shao-Hui He, Chun-Yan Xia and Wei-Qing Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:554
  2. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor characterized by a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. This study aimed to identify glycolysis-related prognostic markers and immunological abnor...

    Authors: Dan Chen, Dandan Lin, Huling Li, Jiandong Yang, Lei Liu, Hanyuan Zhang, Dandan Tang and Kai Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:424
  3. Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large family of transmembrane proteins that are increasingly recognised as key players in cancer ...

    Authors: Jingming Zhuang, Yang Wang, Xinyong Wu, Zijing Peng, Zhengnan Huang, Chao Zhao and Bing Shen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:417
  4. The incidence of breast cancer remains high and it remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer and identifying novel biomark...

    Authors: Xinyue Deng, Chenglong Ma, Xingyu Chen, Ming Yi, Qianhua Cao, Ruocen Liao, Xingyu Lei, Longchang Bai, Bin Zhao, Yingnan Wang, Zhuoyang Shen, Liujing Wu, Chenfang Dong and Zhijun Dai
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:415
  5. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly malignant tumor that requires effective therapeutic targets and drugs. Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is a metabolic vulnerability of TNBC, but the molecula...

    Authors: Qiqi Xue, Wenxi Wang, Jie Liu, Dachi Wang, Tianyu Zhang, Tingting Shen, Xiangsheng Liu, Xiaojia Wang, Xiying Shao, Wei Zhou and Xiaohong Fang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:372
  6. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is high heterogeneity and remains an unmet medical challenge, but their metabolic heterogeneity has not been fully uncovered and required clinical applicable translational strate...

    Authors: Peng Lin, Qiong Qin, Xiang-yu Gan, Jin-shu Pang, Rong Wen, Yun He and Hong Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:358
  7. Metabolite-protein interactions (MPIs) are crucial regulators of cancer metabolism; however, their roles and coordination within the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) microenvironment remain largely un...

    Authors: Tingze Feng, Pengfei Li, Siyi Li, Yuhan Wang, Jing Lv, Tian Xia, Hoy-Jong Lee, Hai-Long Piao, Di Chen and Yegang Ma
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:342
  8. Lymphatic metastasis is a well-known factor for initiating distant metastasis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), which caused major death in most patients with cancer. Meanwhile, metabolic repro...

    Authors: Jingjing Miao, Boyu Chen, Lu Zhang, Zhongming Lu, Rui Wang, Chunyang Wang, Xingyu Jiang, Qi Shen, Yue Li, Dongni Shi, Ying Ouyang, Xiangfu Chen, Xiaowu Deng, Siyi Zhang, Hequn Zou and Shuwei Chen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:316
  9. Tumors often exhibit greater stiffness compared to normal tissues, primarily due to increased deposition within the tumor stroma. Collagen, proteoglycans, laminin, and fibronectin are key components of the ext...

    Authors: Yanli Zhang, Qi Fu, Wenyue Sun, Qiujuan Yue, Ping He, Dong Niu and Min Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:313
  10. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common and aggressive type of pancreatic cancer, with a five-year survival rate below 8%. Its high mortality is largely due to late diagnosis, metastatic pot...

    Authors: Ching-Chung Ko and Pei-Ming Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:305
  11. Glioblastoma (GBM) patients frequently develop resistance to temozolomide (TMZ), the standard chemotherapy. While targeting cancer metabolism shows promise, the relationship between metabolic perturbation and ...

    Authors: Xing Li, Wansong Zhang, Yitong Fang, Tianhu Sun, Jian Chen and Ruilin Tian
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:289
  12. Histidine metabolism is crucial in role in tumor biology, contributing to tumor progression, immune regulation, and metabolic reprogramming. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), dysregulated histidine metabolism...

    Authors: Pengcheng Liu, Fuxin Huang, Peixu Lin, Jiayao Liu, Pincheng Zhou, Jie Wang, Huanhuan Sun, Fan Xing and Haiqing Ma
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:262
  13. Improving glioma treatment effectiveness requires a thorough understanding of gliomagenesis. Emerging evidences have proved that zinc and ring finger 2 (ZNRF2) contributes to development of various human malig...

    Authors: Yunlan Xi, Qingqing Yang, Yixuan Wang, Wenzhe An, Xuewei Huang, Cuiyun Sun, Wenjun Luo, Cuijuan Shi, Qian Wang, Hongli Pan, Qiang Chen, Xuebing Li, Dan Hua, Shizhu Yu and Xuexia Zhou
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:185
  14. Resistance to treatment is a critical factor contributing to poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients. HSP90 has emerged as a promising therapeutic target; however, its role in regulating tumor metabolic path...

    Authors: Gaigai Shen, Shiya Liu, Yuanting Cao, Zihao Chen, Guanghui Wang, Long Yu, Lixin Sun and Yuliang Ran
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:172
  15. Ferroptosis and autophagy are two main forms of regulated cell death (RCD). Ferroptosis is a newly identified RCD driven by iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation. Autophagy is a self-degradation system thro...

    Authors: Xingyu Liu, Halahati Tuerxun, Yixin Zhao, Yawen Li, Shuhui Wen, Xi Li and Yuguang Zhao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:18
  16. Dysregulated energy metabolism has emerged as a defining hallmark of cancer, particularly evident in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Distinct from other breast cancer subtypes, TNBC exhibits heightened g...

    Authors: Gang Zhao, Yutong Liu, Shiqi Yin, Runxiang Cao, Qian Zhao, Yifan Fu and Ye Du
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:1
  17. The RAR-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA), a circadian clock molecule, is highly associated with anti-oncogenes. In this paper, we defined the precise action and mechanistic basis of RORA in ESCC developmen...

    Authors: Wenjian Yao, Linlin Shang, Yinghao Wang, Lei Xu, Yu Bai, Mingyu Feng, Xiangbo Jia and Sen Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:1167
  18. The typical pathological feature of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a significant increase in stromal reaction, leading to a hypoxic and poorly vascularized tumor microenvironment. Tumor cells under...

    Authors: Jichun Gu, Xi Xiao, Caifeng Zou, Yishen Mao, Chen Jin, Deliang Fu, Rongkun Li and Hengchao Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:1135
  19. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a lethal and recalcitrant malignancy with early metastases. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying its aggressive characteristics remain relatively elusive.

    Authors: Haohua Zhu, Huiyang Shi, Jingyu Lu, Kai Zhu, Lin Yang, Lei Guo, Le Tang, Yuankai Shi and Xingsheng Hu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:1117
  20. Obesity significantly impacts female reproductive health and increases the risk of gynecological tumors. However, the specific transcriptional changes that occur in the ovarian microenvironment during obesity-...

    Authors: Yuhan Zhang, Yonghui Jiang, Yunhai Yu, Gengchen Feng, Zihe Zhao, Weihan Zhang, Shumin Li, Yimeng Li, Ziyi Yang, Xueqi Yan, Xueying Gao, Zi-Jiang Chen, Han Zhao and Shigang Zhao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:1063
  21. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a distinct subtype of breast cancer, is characterized by its high invasiveness, high metastatic potential, proneness to relapse, and poor prognosis. Effective treatment re...

    Authors: Kaiyan Chen, Yingchun Wu, Linfeng Xu, Changyong Wang and Jinqiu Xue
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:932
  22. The heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (HNRNPC) plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis, yet its role in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) remains elusive. Herein, we elucidated the function and molecular...

    Authors: Shikuo Rong, Bao Dai, Chunrong Yang, Ziteng Lan, Linhe Wang, Lei Xu, Weijian Chen, Jian Chen and Zeyu Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:914

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2025 23:201

  23. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a serious global health burden because of its high morbidity and mortality rates. Hypoxia and massive lactate production are hallmarks of the CRC microenvironment. However, the effec...

    Authors: An Huang, Zhuang Sun, Haopeng Hong, Yong Yang, Jiajia Chen, Zhaoya Gao and Jin Gu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:587
  24. Several studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between impaired Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) function and the advancement of tumors. As a subunit of SDH, succinate dehydrogenase complex subunit C (SDH...

    Authors: Zhuoyu Ding, Yiyi Wei, Jingping Dai, Chaomin Pan, Li Yang, Qingyuan Li, Yue Zhang, Qun Yan, Changjie Wu, Aimin Li, Zhixian Lan, Side Liu and Xinke Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:544
  25. Chaperonin Containing TCP1 Subunit 6 A (CCT6A) is a prominent protein involved in the folding and stabilization of newly synthesized proteins. However, its roles and underlying mechanisms in lung adenocarcinom...

    Authors: Shao-Kun Yu, Tao Yu, Yu-Ming Wang, Ao Sun, Jia Liu and Kai-Hua Lu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:460
  26. In humans, two ubiquitously expressed N-myristoyltransferases, NMT1 and NMT2, catalyze myristate transfer to proteins to facilitate membrane targeting and signaling. We investigated the expression of NMTs in nume...

    Authors: Erwan Beauchamp, Jay M. Gamma, Christopher R. Cromwell, Eman W. Moussa, Rony Pain, Morris A. Kostiuk, Claudia Acevedo-Morantes, Aishwarya Iyer, Megan Yap, Krista M. Vincent, Lynne M. Postovit, Olivier Julien, Basil P. Hubbard, John R. Mackey and Luc G. Berthiaume
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:431
  27. The cancer microbiota was considered the main risk factor for cancer progression. We had proved that Fusobacterium periodonticum (F.p) was higher abundance in Esophageal cancer(EC)tissues. Bioinformation analy...

    Authors: Xinxin Guo, Ping Wan, Weitao Shen, Mingjun Sun, Zhenyan Peng, Yinghao Liao, Yang Huang and Ran Liu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:401
  28. Laminin subunit gamma-1 (LAMC1) is a major extracellular matrix molecule involved in the tumor microenvironment. Knowledge of the biological features and clinical relevance of LAMC1 in cancers remains limited.

    Authors: Jianrong Bai, Yangyang Zhao, Kaijia Shi, Yonghao Fan, Yanping Ha, Yan Chen, Botao Luo, Yanda Lu, Wei Jie and Zhihua Shen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:391
  29. Loss of AZGP1 expression is a biomarker associated with progression to castration resistance, development of metastasis, and poor disease-specific survival in prostate cancer. However, high expression of AZGP1...

    Authors: Ru M. Wen, Zhengyuan Qiu, G. Edward W. Marti, Eric E. Peterson, Fernando Jose Garcia Marques, Abel Bermudez, Yi Wei, Rosalie Nolley, Nathan Lam, Alex LaPat Polasko, Chun-Lung Chiu, Dalin Zhang, Sanghee Cho, Grigorios Marios Karageorgos, Elizabeth McDonough, Chrystal Chadwick…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:383
  30. Gastric cancer (GC) is a common and aggressive type of cancer worldwide. Despite recent advancements in its treatment, the prognosis for patients with GC remains poor. Understanding the mechanisms of cell deat...

    Authors: Yimeng Ma, Jingjing Jin, Zixuan Xue, Jungang Zhao, Weiyang Cai and Wanli Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:381
  31. 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
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. 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
  36. 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

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:505

  37. 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
  38. 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
  39. 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
  40. 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
  41. 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
  42. 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
  43. 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
  44. 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
  45. 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
  46. 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
  47. 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
  48. 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
  49. 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