Metabolic Phenotyping in Prostate Cancer Using Multi-Omics Approaches

Simple Summary Prostate cancer (PCa) is a hormone-dependent tumor characterized by a highly heterogeneous clinical outcome. This neoplastic process has become a leading cause of cancer worldwide, with over 1.4 million new cases and a total of 375,000 deaths in 2020. Despite the efforts to improve the diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment of PCa patients, a number of challenges still need to be addressed. In this context, integration of different multi-omics datasets may represent a powerful approach for the development of novel metabolic signatures that could contribute to the clinical management of PCa patients. This review aims to provide the most relevant findings of recently published multi-omics studies with a particular focus on describing the metabolic alterations associated with PCa. Prostate cancer (PCa), one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers among men worldwide, is characterized by a diverse biological heterogeneity. It is well known that PCa cells rewire their cellular metabolism to meet the higher demands required for survival, proliferation, and invasion. In this context, a deeper understanding of metabolic reprogramming, an emerging hallmark of cancer, could provide novel opportunities for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. In this setting, multi-omics data integration approaches, including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics, could offer unprecedented opportunities for uncovering the molecular changes underlying metabolic rewiring in complex diseases, such as PCa. Recent studies, focused on the integrated analysis of multi-omics data derived from PCa patients, have in fact revealed new insights into specific metabolic reprogramming events and vulnerabilities that have the potential to better guide therapy and improve outcomes for patients. This review aims to provide an up-to-date summary of multi-omics studies focused on the characterization of the metabolomic phenotype of PCa, as well as an in-depth analysis of the correlation between changes identified in the multi-omics studies and the metabolic profile of PCa tumors.

Automated summary

Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous tumor with a highly variable clinical outcome. Integrating multi-omics datasets can be a powerful approach for developing novel metabolic signatures to improve the clinical management of prostate cancer patients.