title: Review of metabolic pathways activated in cancer cells as determined through isotopic labeling and network analysis.
abstract: Cancer metabolism has emerged as an indispensable part of contemporary cancer research. During the past 10 years, the use of stable isotopic tracers and network analysis have unveiled a number of metabolic pathways activated in cancer cells. Here, we review such pathways along with the particular tracers and labeling observations that led to the discovery of their rewiring in cancer cells. The list of such pathways comprises the reductive metabolism of glutamine, altered glycolysis, serine and glycine metabolism, mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) induced reprogramming and the onset of acetate metabolism. Additionally, we demonstrate the critical role of isotopic labeling and network analysis in identifying these pathways. The alterations described in this review do not constitute a complete list, and future research using these powerful tools is likely to discover other cancer-related pathways and new metabolic targets for cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Keibler
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: gregstep@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stephanopoulos
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D006019:Glycolysis; D006801:Humans; D007521:Isocitrate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007553:Isotope Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D009154:Mutation; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D007521:Isocitrate Dehydrogenase
keywords: Cancer metabolism; Isotopic labeling analysis