Clinically-targetable vulnerabilities in cancer metabolism: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy and safety of targeting cancer metabolic vulnerabilities with specific anticancer agents.

Method: The systematic review and meta-analysis entailed search on PubMed, Embase and Google Scholar databases for cohort-based studies or clinical trials which reported hazard ratio for overall survival and/or median overall survival of patients treated with metabolically-active anticancer drugs. Data was analysed using the Number Cruncher Statistical System version 11.

Results: There were 16 studies published between 1989 and 2018 that reported improvement in the overall survival (p=0.05) despite the reported significant heterogeneity across the studies (I²=70%). Exploiting amino acid metabolic vulnerabilities was associated with a favourable prognostic outcome (p=0.05), while targeting glycolysis and nucleic acid synthesis had no significant clinical importance (p>0.05).

Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop future therapies relying on the synergistic actions of nucleotide biosynthesis, glycolysis and amino acid metabolism.

Key Words: Metabolic vulnerabilities, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Cell metabolism, Metabolic enzymes.

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