Cancer Metabolic Remodeling

Jacinta Serpa holds a degree in Biology from the University of the Azores (December 1997) and earned her PhD in Human Biology, with a specialization in glycobiology and gastric cancer, from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto (December 2005). With over 20 years of experience in cancer biology, she has been a faculty member at NOVA Medical School since 2008 and a researcher at the Portuguese Oncology Institute (IPOLFG) since 2006. Her research is primarily focused on cancer metabolism, particularly the metabolic reprogramming that enables cancer cell survival in specific microenvironments, and the metabolic alterations that influence therapeutic response. Since 2015, she has led the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Laboratory at NOVA Medical School (NMS|FCM) and IPOLFG. Current research in her lab centers on identifying metabolic biomarkers for chemoresistance and disease prognosis, as well as discovering therapeutic targets derived from metabolic vulnerabilities. Metabolomics plays a key role in this strategy, offering insights into tumor-specific metabolic pathways. Moreover, metabolism-based therapies could be an efficient way of improving personalized medicine in cancer.Cindy Mendes is a Junior Researcher in Biomedical Sciences at NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal, where she conducts her research within the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Group at the Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa (IPOLFG). Her work has been focused on understanding metabolic rewiring in cancer, particularly how alterations in lactate and redox metabolism drive tumor progression and therapy resistance in cancers, including non-small cell lung, breast, and ovarian carcinomas.Her research specifically investigates how cancer cells manipulate lactate shuttle systems and redox homeostasis to maintain cellular energy production, mitigate oxidative stress, and support survival under metabolic pressure. She explores how the interplay between lactate metabolism and redox balance creates unique therapeutic vulnerabilities that can be targeted using innovative nanomedicine approaches. Her work includes applying specialized nanoparticle platforms designed to selectively deliver therapeutic agents that disrupt these critical metabolic networks.By combining fundamental research into cancer metabolism with advanced therapeutic design, her work helps bridge the gap between laboratory discovery and clinical translation. This contributes meaningfully to the growing field of metabolism-based oncology, offering new potential strategies for treating aggressive, treatment-resistant cancers. Her approach highlights the therapeutic potential of targeting cancer's metabolic adaptations, particularly through lactate and redox pathways, to develop more effective treatments for patients with limited therapeutic options. Her contributions to this field have been recognized through publications and presentations at international scientific conferences.

• Chapter 1: The interdependence of carbon substrates and metabolic pathways enables the metabolic plasticity of cancer cells.- Chapter 2: Glucose and lactate, starters or intermediates of cancer metabolic rewiring.- Section 1: Metabolic adaptation a way of surviving to stressful conditions of the tumor microenvironment.- Chapter 3: Metabolism-Driven Modulation by the Human Microbiota: Implications for Cancer Therapy and Emerging Strategies.- Chapter 4: Gut-liver microbiome and tumor microenvironment in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.- Chapter 5: Metabolic Reprogramming in the Bladder Cancer Microenvironment: Bridging Fundamental Research and Therapeutic Avenues for Cancer-associated Fibroblasts.- Chapter 6: Metabolic Symbiosis between Cancer Cells and Endothelial Cells: A Key Driver of Tumor Angiogenesis.- Chapter 7: Immunity and Beyond: Emerging Roles of Monocytes and Macrophages in Cancer.- Chapter 8: Dissecting Cancer Metabolism and Therapeutic Resistance Using In Vitro Platforms.- Section 2. Genetics and epigenetics- the way cancer cells control metabolism and survival.- Chapter 9: Epigenetics and One-Carbon Metabolism in Cancer: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications.- Chapter 10: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), its applications in cancer diagnosis and monitoring, and its potential role in regulating cancer metabolism.- Chapter 11: Influence of RNA Modifications on Cancer Metabolism: Interplay with Hypoxia and Therapeutic Implications.- Chapter 12: Epigenetics in Myeloid Malignancies: from basic biology to complex clinical applications.- Chapter 13: Epigenetic targeting in myeloid malignancies.- Section 3. Metabolic fitness to overcome therapy.- Chapter 14: The metabolic remodelling in lung cancer and its putative consequence in therapy response.- Chapter 15: Cysteine metabolism in the control of oxidative stress in cancer, focusing carbon and sulfur metabolism.- Chapter 16: Fueling Death: The Metabolic Control of Ferroptosis.- Chapter 17: Mitochondrial energy metabolism in cancer, immunoregulation and anti-tumour response.- Chapter 18: Use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to study cancer metabolism.- Chapter 19: Mass spectrometry as a tool for metabolomics in cancer.- Chapter 20: Cysteine metabolism as a central metabolic driver and selenocompounds as therapeutic agents.- Chapter 21: Metabolic Control of Immunity: Unveiling Neutrophil Mechanisms.- Chapter 22: Lipid Remodelling and Metabolic Adaptation in Cancer Cell Membranes: A Platform for Membrane.- Section 6. New tools for a translational application of cancer metabolism.- Chapter 23: Mathematical Modeling in Cancer Metabolism: Tools for Translational Applications in Metabolism-Based Therapy.