Metabolic cross-talk between ovarian cancer and the tumor microenvironment-providing potential targets for cancer therapy.

Abstract

Conventional treatments for ovarian cancer, including debulking cytoreductive surgery combined with carboplatin/paclitaxel-based chemotherapy, are insufficient, as evidenced by the high mortality rate, which ranks first among gynecological tumors. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new and effective treatment strategies. Recent evidence has shown that metabolic processes and cell behaviors in ovarian cancer are regulated by intracellular factors as well as metabolites in the tumor microenvironment (TME), which determine occurrence, proliferation, and metastasis. In this review, we describe the comprehensive landscape of metabolic cross-talk between ovarian cancer and its TME with a focus on the following four aspects: (1) intracellular metabolism based on the Warburg effect, (2) metabolism in non-tumor cells in the ovarian TME, (3) metabolic communication between tumor cells and non-tumor cells in the TME, and (4) metabolism-related therapeutic targets and agents for ovarian cancer. The metabolic cross-talk between ovarian cancer and its microenvironment involves a complex network of interactions, and interrupting these interactions by metabolic interventions is a promising therapeutic strategy.