The Heterogeneity Metabolism of Renal Cell Carcinomas

Abstract

According to data from the American Cancer Society, cancer is one of the deadliest health problems globally. Annually, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) causes more than 100,000 deaths worldwide [1–4], posing an urgent need to develop effective treatments to increase patient survival outcomes. New therapies are expected to address a major factor contributing to cancer’s resistance to standard therapies: oncogenic heterogeneity. Gene expression can vary tremendously among different types of cancers, different patients of the same tumor type, and even within individual tumors; various metabolic phenotypes can emerge, making singletherapy approaches insufficient. Novel strategies targeting the diverse metabolism of cancers aim to overcome this obstacle. Though some have yielded positive results, it remains a challenge to uncover all of the distinct metabolic profiles of RCC. In the quest to overcome this obstacle, the metabolic oriented research focusing on these cancers has offered freshly new perspectives, which are expected to contribute heavily to the development of new treatments.