Hypoxic regulation of metabolism offers new opportunities for anticancer therapy.

Cancer metabolism now appears to be optimized for growth of tumor cells by having an increased reliance on non-oxidative processes. However, in order to exploit these findings clinically, we must determine the specific pathways and components that cancer cells rely on, but are dispensable for normal cells. Because tumors have the added stress of hypoxia, the metabolic response to low oxygen may represent such a tumor-specific metabolic program.