Tracking Metabolic Rewiring of Cancer Metabolism in Humans Using Isotope-Resolved NMR

Abstract

Altered metabolism is considered one of the hallmarks of cancer. The findings that malignant brain tumors and brain metastases utilize acetate as an alternative nutrient are relatively recent and offer new avenues for investigation of altered metabolism in human cancers. Here, we describe comprehensively the details of the 13C NMR-based isotopomer methodology to measure in vivo acetate utilization in brain tumor patients, including the contribution from acetate metabolism of peripheral tissues. Methods described in this chapter can be readily extended to other cancer types.