The term tumor metabolome describes the characteristic metabolic phenotype of tumor

Tumor

A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...

 cells.

Comparison of the metabolic characteristics of different tumor cell lines and tumors revealed that during tumorigenesis, the same alterations always occur in distinct metabolic parameters regardless of the basic metabolism of the tissues from which the tumor developed, such as brain or liver and regardless of the molecular mechanism by which tumorigenesis was induced.

The characteristic attributes of the tumor metabolome are:

• high glycolytic
  Glycolysis
  Glycolysis is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose C6H12O6, into pyruvate, CH3COCOO− + H+...
  
   enzyme
  Enzyme
  Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
  
   activities
• the expression of the pyruvate kinase
  Pyruvate kinase
  Pyruvate kinase is an enzyme involved in glycolysis. It catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group from phosphoenolpyruvate to ADP, yielding one molecule of pyruvate and one molecule of ATP.-Reaction:The reaction with pyruvate kinase:...
  
   isoenzyme type M2, which is mainly in its dimeric form (= Tumor M2-PK
  Tumor M2-PK
  Tumor M2-PK is a synonym for the dimeric form of the pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 , a key enzyme within tumor metabolism. Tumor M2-PK can be elevated in many tumor types, rather than being an organ-specific tumor marker such as PSA...
  
  )
• increased channeling of glucose carbons into synthetic processes, such as nucleic acid
  Nucleic acid
  Nucleic acids are biological molecules essential for life, and include DNA and RNA . Together with proteins, nucleic acids make up the most important macromolecules; each is found in abundance in all living things, where they function in encoding, transmitting and expressing genetic information...
  
  , amino acid
  Amino acid
  Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
  
   and phospholipid
  Phospholipid
  Phospholipids are a class of lipids that are a major component of all cell membranes as they can form lipid bilayers. Most phospholipids contain a diglyceride, a phosphate group, and a simple organic molecule such as choline; one exception to this rule is sphingomyelin, which is derived from...
  
   synthesis
• a high rate of pyrimidine
  Pyrimidine
  Pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound similar to benzene and pyridine, containing two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 of the six-member ring...
  
   and purine
  Purine
  A purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, consisting of a pyrimidine ring fused to an imidazole ring. Purines, including substituted purines and their tautomers, are the most widely distributed kind of nitrogen-containing heterocycle in nature....
  
   de novo synthesis
• a low (ATP+GTP) : (CTP+UTP) ratio
• low AMP levels
• high glutaminolytic
  Glutaminolysis
  Glutaminolysis is a series of biochemical reactions by which the amino acid glutamine is degraded to glutamate, aspartate, CO2, pyruvate, lactate, alanine and citrate.- The glutaminolytic pathway:...
  
   capacities
• release of immunosuppressive substances
• dependency on methionine
  Methionine
  Methionine is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula HO2CCHCH2CH2SCH3. This essential amino acid is classified as nonpolar. This amino-acid is coded by the codon AUG, also known as the initiation codon, since it indicates mRNA's coding region where translation into protein...