The grade of malignancy differs among cancer cell types, yet it remains the burden of genetic studies to understand the reasons behind this observation. Metabolic studies of cancer, based on the Warburg effect or aerobic glycolysis, have also not provided any clarity. Instead, the significance of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) has been found to play critical roles in aggressive cancer cells. In this perspective, metabolic symbiosis is addressed as one of the ultimate causes of the grade of cancer malignancy. Metabolic symbiosis gives rise to metabolic heterogeneities which enable cancer cells to acquire greater opportunities for proliferation and metastasis in tumor microenvironments. This study introduces a real-time new imaging technique to visualize metabolic symbiosis between cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and cancer cells based on the metabolic oscillations in these cells. The causality of cellular oscillations in cancer cells and CAFs, connected through lactate transport, is a key point for the development of this novel technique.
Keywords: cancer; heterogeneity; malignancy; metabolic oscillations; symbiosis.
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