Guest Editors
Lei Huang
Department of Molecular Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Lei Huang, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Cell and Cancer Biology at the UMass Chan Medical School. He earned his PhD in biophysics at the MOE Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science (South China Normal University) and completed postdoctoral training at UMass Chan before joining the faculty. His research couples quantitative biophysics with molecular and cellular approaches to dissect signaling and epigenetic mechanisms that drive metabolic homeostasis and disease. Current interests include adipose thermogenesis and adipokines in obesity/diabetes, and post-translational regulation of oncogenic signaling (e.g., PRMT5/AKT) in tumor progression and metastasis, with an emphasis on identifying actionable therapeutic targets.
Yisheng Chen
Ningde Normal University; Fujian Medical University
Yisheng Chen, MD, PhD, is an associate professor and master’s supervisor at Ningde Normal University and Fujian Medical University. He received interdisciplinary training in neurodegenerative diseases and exercise interventions at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, and later as a visiting scholar at Loma Linda University under Prof. John H. Zhang. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of exercise-induced health benefits, liver–brain–gut axis regulation, single-cell omics in sports injury, soft tissue regenerative biomaterials, and precision rehabilitation for aging populations. He has published over 50 SCI-indexed papers as first or corresponding author in leading journals such as Chem, Journal of Controlled Release, and Journal of Advanced Research (h-index 25, >1400 citations). Dr. Chen serves as an editor or guest editor for multiple international journals and is an active reviewer for over 50 SCI journals.
Collection Overview
Cancer cells and their surrounding stromal and immune compartments continuously reprogram metabolism to sustain growth under fluctuating nutrient, oxygen, and therapeutic pressures; this metabolic plasticity is now recognized as a central driver of tumor progression, immune evasion, and treatment resistance. This Topical Collection aims to consolidate mechanistic and technology-enabled advances that connect metabolic pathway rewiring, e.g., glycolysis–OXPHOS switching, amino acid and lipid dependencies, redox control, organelle metabolism, and epigenetic–metabolic coupling, with clinically relevant phenotypes such as metastasis, dormancy, and therapy-induced persistence. We welcome studies spanning single-cell or spatial multi-omics, isotope tracing and fluxomics, organoid and in vivo models, and computational frameworks that distinguish causal metabolic vulnerabilities from correlates.
By integrating cross-disciplinary perspectives, from tumor microenvironment and immunometabolism to metabolic pharmacology and biomarker development, this collection will provide a curated, up-to-date resource that helps the community prioritize robust targets, refine patient stratification, and design rational combination therapies that exploit metabolic liabilities while minimizing toxicity. Ultimately, the collection will accelerate translation from descriptive metabolic signatures to actionable interventions that improve durable cancer control.
Articles
Abstracts
Molecular network and clinical prospect of mirna regulating sorafenib resistance in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma
Peng Zhao*1
1Qingdao public health clicicenter