Targeting Metabolism for Cancer Therapy

Metabolic reprogramming contributes to tumor development and introduces metabolic liabilities that can be exploited to treat cancer. Chemotherapies targeting metabolism have been effective cancer treatments for decades, and the success of these therapies demonstrates that a therapeutic window exists to target malignant metabolism. New insights into the differential metabolic dependencies of tumors have provided novel therapeutic strategies to exploit altered metabolism, some of which are being evaluated in preclinical models or clinical trials. Here, we review our current understanding of cancer metabolism and discuss how this might guide treatments targeting the metabolic requirements of tumor cells. The success of chemotherapies targeting metabolism illustrate that metabolic liabilities can be exploited to treat cancer. We review new insights into the differential metabolic dependencies of tumors and discuss how understanding cancer metabolism might guide the development of new drugs that target the metabolic requirements of tumor cells.