Cancer Cell Metabolism
The importance of cancer cell metabolism
Advances in technologies for measuring cell metabolism have transformed the development of novel cancer therapeutics in recent years. It is widely accepted that metabolism is a critical driver of cancer malignancy, with cancer cell proliferation commonly requiring an upregulation or “metabolic switch” towards a more glycolytic phenotype. This glycolytic phenotype, known as the “Warburg Effect” fuels rapid energy demands required for cancer cell proliferation and function.
Cellular metabolic profiling has also demonstrated that cancer strategies and dependencies are not always predictable. For example, some cancer cell subsets go beyond glycolysis, and have the versatility to switch between, or use both, glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration to sustain their energetic demand. However, other cancers may be more reliant on mitochondrial respiration. XF analysis is improving our understanding of metabolic drivers in cancer cells, helping to identify and expose vulnerabilities that can reveal pathway intermediates and potential drug targets for developing safe and effective cancer treatments.
Combining years of technical know-how in XF analysis with cellular bioenergetics expertise, we offer fee-for service assays to measure real-time kinetic functional behaviours of live cells, providing our clients with a complete picture of cellular processes as they happen.
Learn how XF analysis can support cancer cell metabolism
Cell characterisation and phenotyping based on cellular metabolically profiling.
Real-time metabolic profiling provides a sensitive measure to assess how cells adapt in response to changes in substrate supply and energetic demands. We gain a deeper understanding of cancer cell biology, by providing functional measurements of two key metabolic pathways, glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, from live cells in real time.
Assessing dynamic changes in cancer cell metabolism
Cancer cell proliferation is a highly dynamic and energy consuming process. In response to increased energetic demands, cancer cells exhibit an altered metabolism, increasing both substrate and ATP supply to the cell. The ability of cancer cells to switch between energy synthesising pathways drives cancer cell adaptation and a key determinant in chemoresistance. Understanding how cancer cells exploit cell metabolism to adapt and survive is thus helping to reveal therapeutic targets to overcome chemoresistance.
Explore cancer dependencies and vulnerabilities
Metabolic phenotypes are substantially variable, and can serve as a critical predictor of cancer cell proliferation, vulnerability, and resistance to therapy. Direct real-time measurements of live cell metabolism using XF analysis provides key insights into ATP supply and substrate utilisation and dependency, highlighting cancer vulnerabilities that support cell proliferation and function.
Discovery strategies to perturb pathways and control immune cell response to advance therapeutic outcome.
The metabolic status of the tumour microenvironment can support the therapeutic resistance of cancer cells. Immuno-oncology and immunotherapy strategies are therefore being discovered to develop safer and effective cell therapy products and solutions that persist and sustain the killing of cancer cells in the tumour microenvironment. Researchers are also discovering that anti-tumour effects of immune cell therapies can be improved by increasing cellular metabolic fitness.
Explore more with our cell metabolism assays
Real-time metabolic profiling and phenotyping for disease models.
Cancer substrate dependencies, plasticity, and vulnerabilities in the tumour microenvironment.
Signalling or pathway intermediates, target identification/validation, mechanism of action, and checkpoint blockade.
Immuno-oncology and immune cell fitness versus exhaustion.
Our cancer cell metabolism assays
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BioCELL mitoTOX
Probe real-time, direct measurements of mitochondrial metabolism with high sensitivity and specificity. Our solution for high-throughput compound screening.
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BioCELL proFILE
An all-in-one solution to metabolically profile cells using real-time measurements of mitochondrial and glycolytic energy metabolism.
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BioCELL mitoTEST
This assay provides key insights into mitochondrial function and used to investigate functional differences among cell types, drug candidates, and genetic or biochemical interventions.
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BioCELL glycoTEST
A precise measure of glycolysis in living intact cells, revealing transient responses and rapid metabolic switches not discernible in end-point lactate assays.