Thermogenesis in cancer metabolism

It is known that cancer cells generally adopt a specific carbon metabolism that is different from that of healthy cells. The goal of this project is to reveal the mechanisms and meanings of cancer-specific metabolism. 13C-metabolic flux analysis and in silico metabolic simulations of in vitro cultured cancer cells revealed that their metabolism was related to the metabolic thermogenesis. The hypothesis was validated by RNA sequencing of MCF-7 and HCT116 cells cultured at different temperature (36, 37 and 38°C). This is the first study to suggest that cancer cells may have a specific metabolism to avoid the production of excessive metabolic heat.