Tumor Cells and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts: An Updated Metabolic Perspective

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 399
• Main Authors: Gentric, Géraldine, Mechta-Grigoriou, Fatima
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.01.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Amino acids; Biosynthesis; Breast cancer; Cancer; Carbon; Carbon sources; Fibroblasts; Glucose; Metabolic pathways; Metabolism; Metabolites; Molecular modelling; Oxidative stress; Phosphorylation; Respiration; Review; Tumor cells; Tumor microenvironment; Tumors; cancer cell; fibroblast; crosstalk; CAF; OXPHOS; metabolism; tumor microenvironment; heterogeneity
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers13030399

During the past decades, metabolism and redox imbalance have gained considerable attention in the cancer field. In addition to the well-known Warburg effect occurring in tumor cells, numerous other metabolic deregulations have now been reported. Indeed, metabolic reprograming in cancer is much more heterogeneous than initially thought. In particular, a high diversity of carbon sources used by tumor cells has now been shown to contribute to this metabolic heterogeneity in cancer. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms newly highlighted are multiple and shed light on novel actors. Furthermore, the impact of this metabolic heterogeneity on tumor microenvironment has also been an intense subject of research recently. Here, we will describe the new metabolic pathways newly uncovered in tumor cells. We will also have a particular focus on Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAF), whose identity, function and metabolism have been recently under profound investigation. In that sense, we will discuss about the metabolic crosstalk between tumor cells and CAF.