The poor prognosis in the treatment of ovarian cancer is mainly attributed to chemoresistance. The development of new strategies is urgently necessary to overcome chemoresistance because of the low efficacy of the current standard chemotherapy in ovarian cancer. Metabolic alterations have been suggested to have a crucial role in cancer development. The key metabolic changes in cancer include aerobic glycolysis and macromolecular synthesis, causing antiapoptosis in cancer cells. Therefore, the manipulation of the metabolic derangement could be an effective strategy to overcome chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. In this review, we will discuss metabolic interventions as promising anticancer strategies in ovarian cancer, focusing on the glycolytic, mitochondrial apoptotic, and necrotic pathways. In addition, the role of p53 in relation to metabolic alterations in cancer will be mentioned.
© 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.