Alterations in metabolism at the cell, tissue, and organism levels are linked to cancer, supporting tumor cell growth and survival. Emerging data indicate that altered metabolism also drives disease progression, including increased tumor heterogeneity that promotes carcinogenesis, metastasis, and drug resistance. Importantly, because host metabolism both shapes and is shaped by cancer, the field must resolve how whole-body metabolic factors—including obesity, hormonal regulation, and next-generation anti-obesity and diabetes drugs—affect metabolism within tumors, how tumors alter metabolism throughout the host, which molecular pathways promote cancer growth while shaping other cancer cell phenotypes, and how these insights can be translated into strategies that improve patient care.

This Keystone Symposia conference on Tumor Metabolism: Novel Pathways and Therapeutic Challenges will examine the latest findings on how metabolic pathways are altered in cancer, and how these alterations affect cells and tissues to enable tumor progression and whole-body metabolic changes in patients with cancer. Plenary sessions will explore novel ways in which metabolism impacts signaling and gene expression and discuss new concepts related to cancer as a systemic disease. Attendees will leave with a multidisciplinary understanding of tumor metabolism—how it drives cancer progression and how that knowledge can improve emerging and established therapies.

The conference will bring together researchers who study metabolism and cancer at the biochemical, cell biological, tissue, and organismal levels. In collaboration with the Endocrine Society, discussions will address how cancer influences organismal physiology with a goal of clarifying the connections between endocrine regulation of whole-body metabolism, diet, and tumor growth. The program will also explore interactions between cancer and the microenvironment, as well as metabolic drivers of cancer evolution. This interdisciplinary scope will facilitate mechanistic understanding of how metabolism affects tumor biology and enable rigorous discussion of how molecular changes translate to patient outcomes.

Tumor metabolism will be addressed across scales—within cells, tissues, and across the organism—to define and understand its role in driving tumor behavior. This conference is unique for its deep focus on metabolism and emphasis on cancer biology. The timing is also pivotal: rapidly improving abilities to profile and perturb metabolic pathways are now enabling mechanistic insight into how metabolism shapes cancer outcomes in ways not previously possible.

Unique Career Development Opportunities

This meeting will feature a Career Roundtable where trainees and early-career investigators will have the opportunity to interact with field leaders from across academic and industry sectors for essential career development advice and networking opportunities. Find out more about Career Roundtables here: https://www.keystonesymposia.org/diversity/career-development-initiatives