Merging metabolic modeling and imaging for screening therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play a key role in metabolic reprogramming and are well-established contributors to drug resistance in colorectal cancer (CRC). To exploit this metabolic crosstalk, we integrated a systems biology approach that identified key metabolic targets in a data-driven method and validated them experimentally. This process involved a novel machine learning-based method to computationally screen, in a high-throughput manner, the effects of enzyme perturbations predicted by a computational model of CRC metabolism. This approach reveals the network-wide effects of metabolic perturbations. Our results highlighted hexokinase (HK) as a crucial target, which subsequently became our focus for experimental validation using patient-derived tumor organoids (PDTOs). Through metabolic imaging and viability assays, we found that PDTOs cultured in CAF-conditioned media exhibited increased sensitivity to HK inhibition, confirming the model predictions. Our approach emphasizes the critical role of integrating computational and experimental techniques in exploring and exploiting CRC-CAF crosstalk.