You are what you eat: how you metabolise your food matters in cancer

So far, ten characteristics, or hallmarks, of cancer have been identified. Nguyen Nguyen, PhD researcher at the UMC Utrecht in the Rodriguez-Colman group, focuses her research on one of them: the metabolism of cancer. Whilst this is one of the most complex cancer processes, she explains why understanding cancer metabolism is fundamental and why it is a promising target for treatment.

As part of your metabolism, cells retrieve energy and building blocks from your diet in the form of nutrients and functional components called metabolites. Unlike healthy cells, cancer cells shift the way that they use this energy by what is known as the Warburg effect. They consume more sugar and use it to supply metabolic building blocks needed for rapid cell division and tumour growth.

Nguyen points out that this altered metabolism does not work alone, but rather heavily interacts with the other hallmarks of cancer. “All different regulatory levels within the cell, from DNA to metabolism, are heavily interlinked. What makes metabolism even more important in cancer, is that without it, none of the other cancer processes could ever take place.”

Nguyen’s work focuses on one of the lesser-understood interconnections of metabolism with cancer cell fate, or what cell type a cancer cell becomes, in human intestinal tumours. “Tumours are comprised of different cell types. One important cell type, called the cancer stem cell, can give rise to all different subtypes, and correlates with tumour malignancy and growth. I am exploring whether modifying the metabolism of a cancer cell influences its cell fate and whether specific metabolic alterations can induce or prevent cancer stem cells from forming.” She is able to do this with a new microscopy approach that can follow metabolism and cell fate during tumour growth.

When we find cancer-specific ‘metabolic weak points’ in the mechanism, we could develop new cancer treatments or improve the therapies currently available.

Research like this is important, Nguyen says. “It is important and clinically relevant to understand how cancer cell metabolism works as compared to the healthy condition. When we find cancer-specific ‘metabolic weak points’ in the mechanism, we could develop new cancer treatments or improve the therapies currently available.”

What is especially relevant is that more knowledge about cancer metabolism could prove to be beneficial in the clinic. “Our eating habits and metabolism could contribute to cancer development, or even debatably impact the outcomes of cancer treatment. Moreover, in addition to other measurements in the blood, metabolites could potentially provide a cheaper and more sensitive approach for early cancer diagnostics. This is what makes research into this topic worthwhile, despite its complexity. Actually, this complexity is probably why it needs more research.”