Annual Meeting of the International Society of Cancer Metabolism (ISCaM)- Cancer Metabolic Rewiring: Mapping the Road to Clinical Translation

About this Research Topic

Background

Metabolic rewiring in cancer cells has been documented about 100 years ago. However, only recently it has been recognized as an important hallmark of cancer, that allows survival in the hostile and nutrient-deprived environment leading to cancer progression and resistance to therapy. Targeting altered metabolism in tumor cells in search of novel treatment options is a rapidly evolving field of research. Despite the growing number of studies and discoveries, there are many questions that remain to be answered. For example, what are the triggers of metabolic reprogramming, what are consequences to the malignant phenotype and, importantly, how to exploit these metabolic alterations to the benefit of cancer patients?

The different aspects of cancer metabolic rewiring were addressed at the 6th annual meeting of the International Society of Cancer Metabolism (ISCaM) in Braga, Portugal, on October 17-19, 2019. In this meeting, a comprehensive program was set that tackled the many faces of cancer metabolism, highlighting the recent advances in the field and the road ahead for clinical translation. The meeting sessions focused on more traditional topics such as the understanding and targeting of cancer pH dynamics, genetic and epigenetic regulation of cancer metabolism, tumor metabolic heterogeneity, contribution of metabolic alterations to cancer progression, induction of programmed cell death, to current hot topics, namely the role of diet and microbiota in cancer metabolism, metabolic reprogramming and immune response, and cancer metabolism as a challenging target for therapy.

This article collection will highlight the topics discussed during the meeting sessions in a series of mini-review articles:
1) Intracellular pH dynamics and cancer cell behaviors
2) Metformin: A multi-faceted modulator of the epigenetic landscape
3) Metabolic aspects of palladium (II) potential anti-cancer drugs
4) Cysteine and glutathione, challenging cancer cells to death
5) Cysteine metabolism, a hot spot in cancer cell survival
6) Dysregulation of autophagy by inflammatory cytokines and its impact on cancer progression
7) The interplay between immune cell metabolism and function
8) Microbiota manipulation by diet and probiotics as an emerging tool in cancer therapy and management

Keywords: cancer metabolism

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