REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Metabolism
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1564226
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Cancer Therapy: Innovative Strategies Targeting Immune Evasion and Metabolic ModulationView all 6 articles
Metabolic reprogramming and therapeutic targeting in nonsmall cell lung cancer: emerging insights beyond the Warburg effect
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
- 2Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
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Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Recent advancements have illuminated the intricate metabolic reprogramming that underpins NSCLC progression and resistance to therapy. Beyond the classical Warburg effect, emerging evidence highlights the pivotal roles of altered lipid metabolism, amino acid utilization, and the metabolic crosstalk within the tumor microenvironment (TME). This review delves into the latest discoveries in NSCLC metabolism, emphasizing novel pathways and mechanisms that contribute to tumor growth and survival. We critically assess the interplay between cancer cell metabolism and the TME, explore the impact of metabolic heterogeneity, and discuss how metabolic adaptations confer therapeutic resistance. By integrating insights from cutting-edge technologies such as single-cell metabolomics and spatial metabolomics, we identify potential metabolic vulnerabilities in NSCLC. Finally, we propose innovative therapeutic strategies that target these metabolic dependencies, including combination approaches that enhance the efficacy of existing treatments and pave the way for personalized metabolic therapies.
Keywords: Non-small cell lung cancer, metabolic reprogramming, Tumor Microenvironment, Therapeutic targeting, metabolic vulnerabilities
Received: 21 Jan 2025; Accepted: 02 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cai, Zhang, Xu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chunhui Yang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
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