Extraction of Metabolites from Cancer Cells

Cancer cells possess an elevated demand for nutrients and metabolites due to their uncontrolled proliferation and need to survive in unfavorable conditions. Autophagy is a conservative degradation pathway that counters lack of nutrients and provides organelle and protein quality control, beyond maintenance of cellular metabolism.Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics is a powerful tool to study the metabolome of a cell. Such analysis requires proper sample preparation including the extraction of metabolites. Here, we provide a protocol for the extraction of metabolites from adherent cancer cells suitable for global metabolome profiling by mass spectrometry.