In general, cancer metabolism has mostly focused on altered utilisation of glucose and glutamine as biomass substrates. Investigations of cancer cell lipid metabolism have centred on the observed upregulation of de novo fatty acid synthesis from glucose and other non-lipid carbon sources. This, despite the fact that many tumours establish in, or metastasise to, lipid rich environments and that the circulation provides significant access to energy- and carbon-dense lipid sources such as adipocyte-derived free fatty acids and lipoprotein-contained triacylglycerols.
My laboratory has investigated the utilisation of extracellular-derived fatty acids in breast and prostate cancer cells and how this is influenced by lipid levels in the extracellular environment. Interestingly, it has been observed in both breast and prostate cancer that increased intracellular lipid stores aligns with increased disease "aggressiveness". As such, we have interrogated the potential advantages breast and prostate cancer cells harbour when storing vast amounts of fatty acids. These experiments have included elucidation of the effects on lipid metabolism, cell growth and viability as well as response to chemotherapeutic agents.