Highlights
The metastatic cascade is associated with metabolic rewiring.
Metabolic rewiring supports cancer invasion by inducing signaling pathways.
Circulating tumor cells rely on enhanced antioxidant metabolism.
The premetastatic niche is primed for glucose availability.
Cancer cells undergoing metastatic colonization depend on increased ATP production.
The environment dictates metabolic rewiring in secondary tumors.
Metastasis to distant organs is a predictor of poor prognosis. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to understand the mechanisms that impinge on the different steps of the metastatic cascade. Recent work has revealed that particular metabolic pathways are rewired in cancer cells to support their transition through the metastatic cascade, resulting in the formation of secondary tumors in distant organs. Indeed, metabolic rewiring induces signaling pathways during initial cancer invasion, circulating cancer cells depend on enhanced antioxidant defenses, and cancer cells colonizing a distant organ require increased ATP production. Moreover, the local environment of the metastatic niche dictates the metabolic pathways secondary tumors rely on. Here we describe mechanisms of metabolic rewiring associated with distinct steps of metastasis formation.
