Metabolic landscapes in sarcomas

Metabolic rewiring offers novel therapeutic opportunities in cancer. Until recently, there was scant information regarding soft tissue sarcomas, due to their heterogeneous tissue origin, histological definition and underlying genetic history. Novel large-scale genomic and metabolomics approaches are now helping stratify their physiopathology. In this review, we show how various genetic alterations skew activation pathways and orient metabolic rewiring in sarcomas. We provide an update on the contribution of newly described mechanisms of metabolic regulation. We underscore mechanisms that are relevant to sarcomagenesis or shared with other cancers. We then discuss how diverse metabolic landscapes condition the tumor microenvironment, anti-sarcoma immune responses and prognosis. Finally, we review current attempts to control sarcoma growth using metabolite-targeting drugs.

Automated summary

Metabolic rewiring presents new therapeutic opportunities in cancer, particularly in soft tissue sarcomas with their heterogeneous tissue origin and genetic history. Genetic alterations skew activation pathways and orient metabolic rewiring in sarcomas. The diverse metabolic landscapes in tumors condition the tumor microenvironment, immune responses, and prognosis, providing potential targets for metabolite-targeting drugs in controlling sarcoma growth.