Editorial: Exploring key pathways in the progression of gastrointestinal diseases based on metabolic reprogramming and developing drugs targeting metabolism

Gastrointestinal neoplasms continue to pose a serious threat to public health due to the high prevalence of highly lethal malignancies 1. These cancers can affect the esophagus, stomach, colon, liver, and pancreas. Patients often present asymptomatically, which leads to delays in diagnosis.Significant advances have been made in cancer treatment over the past several decades, including the development of chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies.However, resistance remains a significant challenge, with aberrant metabolism being recognized as one of the emerging hallmarks of cancer 2. As a heterogeneous disease, cancer retains its capacity to develop and progress through genetic and molecular changes. 3.The metabolism of these cells is ingeniously modified so that accelerated proliferation can be facilitated, apoptosis can be evaded, and even drug resistance can be developed. Recently, metabolic alterations have proven to be important in primary tumors, such as the Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis), glutamine addiction, and reprogramming of lipid metabolism 4,5.Metabolic reprogramming of tumors may also interact with the tumor microenvironment (TME) by secreting metabolites such as lactate and succinate, thereby promoting immune suppression, angiogenesis, and stromal remodeling. These processes play an important role in the metastasis of gastrointestinal tumors, either directly or indirectly 6. This present editorial introduces the comprehensive collection of articles that have hitherto been published in Frontiers in Immunology. The present volume is part of the Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy collection. Additionally, the author discovered that GIPC2 has the potential to serve as both a biomarker and a therapeutic target.