Glucose Metabolism on Tumor Plasticity, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Xiaoping Lin; Zizheng Xiao; Tao Chen; Steven H Liang; Huiqin Guo

doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.00317

Glucose Metabolism on Tumor Plasticity, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Front Oncol. 2020 Mar 6:10:317. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.00317. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Xiaoping Lin^{1

2

3}, Zizheng Xiao^{1

2}, Tao Chen^{1

2}, Steven H Liang³, Huiqin Guo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
³ Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
⁴ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Beijing Sijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Malignant cells support tumor proliferation and progression by adopting to metabolic changes. Tumor cells altered metabolism by increasing glucose uptake and fermentation of glucose to lactate, even in the aerobic state and the presence of functioning mitochondria. Glucose metabolism in tumor plasticity has attracted great interests by clinicians and scientists in the past decades. This review discusses the previous and emerging researches on the tumor plasticity altered by changing glucose metabolism in different cancer cells, including cancer stem cells (CSCs). In addition, we summarize the rising applications of glucose metabolism in tumor diagnosis and treatment. Our objective is to direct future investigation on this altered metabolic phenotype and its application in patient care.

Keywords: Warburg effect; diagnosis; glucose; metabolism; plasticity; treatment; tumor.

Publication types

Review