Metabolic Plasticity and Epigenetic Rewiring in Solid Tumors
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Medicine".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 85
Special Issue Editors
Interests: epigenetics; metabolism; molecular biology; oncology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue will identify state-of-the-art research on the intertwined contributions of metabolism and epigenetics in tumor plasticity. By proposing a novel conceptual framework—the "metabolic–epigenetic axis"—this Special Issue will transcend traditional compartmentalized approaches to identify nodal convergence points for innovative therapeutic co-targeting.
In their rapid and uncontrolled proliferation, solid tumors generate a hostile microenvironment because the tumor mass can outgrow existing tissue vascularization, thereby limiting cellular access to oxygen (O2) and nutrients. The hypoxic environment generated by this unbalanced physiological growth creates stressful, dynamic conditions where the distribution of crucial nutrients and O2 is spatially and temporally heterogeneous, while levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS) become high.
To survive, tumor cells undergo adaptive metabolic reprogramming to improve fitness, offer a selective proliferative advantage, and sustain new redox homeostasis to counterbalance the hypoxic/oxidative stress of tumor microenvironments. Several intrinsic and extrinsic signals can shape the plasticity of cancer cells driving transformation and progression by rewiring cellular metabolism. Among numerous intrinsic factors (i.e., genetic alterations, cell/tissue of origin, tumor grade, histological subtype), epigenetic reprogramming is crucial for the acquisition and maintenance of hallmark capabilities in cancer, including unlocking phenotypic plasticity and deregulating cellular metabolism. Thus, the bi-directional and dynamic interplay between epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming represents an intriguingly strategy for subclonal neoplastic populations to diversify survival tactics and emerge in fluctuating and harsh microenvironmental conditions. These subclones acquire aggressive traits that confer adaptive plasticity for evading immune surveillance, developing drug resistance and gaining highly proliferative and aggressive phenotypes.
Collectively, this Special Issue will assess in depth how the crosstalk between aberrant metabolism and altered epigenome represents a significant challenge in the development of novel effective therapeutic strategies, specifically addressing the low efficacy of standard therapies in drug-resistant tumors and the limitations of immunotherapy in "cold" cancers.
Dr. Fabiana Crispo
Dr. Ilaria Laurenzana
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- metabolomic reprogramming
- epigenetic rewiring
- tumor microenvironment
- phenotypic plasticity
- solid tumors
- tumor adaptative strategies
- therapeutic co-targeting
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