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Updated: Aug 31, 2025

Polymalic Acid-based Nano Biopolymers for Targeting of Multiple Tumor Markers: An Opportunity for Personalized Medicine?
Published on: June 13, 2014
Nanomedicines Targeting Metabolism in the Tumor Microenvironment
Mengdi Ren1, Xiaoqiang Zheng2, Huan Gao1
1Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
Abstract:
Cancer cells reprogram their metabolism to meet their growing demand for bioenergy and biosynthesis. The metabolic profile of cancer cells usually includes dysregulation of main nutritional metabolic pathways and the production of metabolites, which leads to a tumor microenvironment (TME) having the characteristics of acidity, hypoxic, and/or nutrient depletion. Therapies targeting metabolism have become an active and revolutionary research topic for anti-cancer drug development. The differential metabolic vulnerabilities between tumor cells and other cells within TME provide nanotechnology a therapeutic window of anti-cancer. In this review, we present the metabolic characteristics of intrinsic cancer cells and TME and summarize representative strategies of nanoparticles in metabolism-regulating anti-cancer therapy. Then, we put forward the challenges and opportunities of using nanoparticles in this emerging field.
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