Metabolic evaluations of cancer metabolism by NMR-based stable isotope tracer methodologies

Cancer cells are widely recognized for being able to adapt their metabolism towards converting available nutrients into biomass to increase proliferation rates.

We will review a series of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based stable isotope tracer methodologies for probing cancer metabolism.

The monitoring of such adaptations is of the utmost importance to unravel cancer metabolism and tumour growth. Several major metabolic targets have been recognized as promising foci and have been addressed by multiple studies in recent years. In this work are presented strategies to quantify glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, Krebs cycle turnover and de novo lipogenesis by NMR isotopomer analysis.

Being able to adequately define the interplay between metabolic pathways allows the monitoring of their prevalence in tissues and such information is critical for an accurate knowledge of the metabolic distinctive nature of tumours towards devising more efficient antitumorigenic strategies. Discussed methodologies are currently available in the literature, but to date, no single review has compiled all their possible uses, particularly in an interdependent perspective.