Enhanced metabolism as a common feature of cancer plasticity

Cancer cells often rely on glycolytic metabolism in order to fulfill high demands of ATP and macromolecules for the sustained growth and proliferation. However, glycolysis is not necessarily the main source of energy for all cancer cells. Some of them rather depend on glutamine or lactate that favor the utilization of oxidative metabolic pathway. Different employment rate of metabolism creates variable products that participate in the formation of environmental milieu, which in turn triggers broad spectrum of cellular signaling pathways leading to migration, invasion, or proliferation. In this review we discuss different metabolic pathways promoted in tumor cells and describe the possibilities of their targeting as therapeutic strategies.