Tsyben, A; Dannhorn, A; Hamm, G; Pitoulias, M; Couturier, D; Sawle, A; Briggs, M; Wright, A J; Brodie, C; Mendil, L; Miller, J L; Williams, E C; Franzén, L; De Jong, G; Gracia, T; Memi, F; Bayraktar, O A; Adapa, R; Rao, J; Gonzalez-Fernandez, A; Bunch, J; Takats, Z; Barry, S T; Goodwin, R J A; Mair, R; Brindle, K M (2025) Cell-intrinsic metabolic phenotypes identified in patients with glioblastoma, using mass spectrometry imaging of 13C-labelled glucose metabolism. Nature Metabolism, 7 (5). pp. 928-939. ISSN 2522-5812

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Abstract

Transcriptomic studies have attempted to classify glioblastoma (GB) into subtypes that predict survival and have different therapeutic vulnerabilities 1–3 . Here we identified three metabolic subtypes: glycolytic, oxidative and a mix of glycolytic and oxidative, using mass spectrometry imaging of rapidly excised tumour sections from two patients with GB who were infused with [U- 13 C]glucose and from spatial transcriptomic analysis of contiguous sections. The phenotypes are not correlated with microenvironmental features, including proliferation rate, immune cell infiltration and vascularization, are retained when patient-derived cells are grown in vitro or as orthotopically implanted xenografts and are robust to changes in oxygen concentration, demonstrating their cell-intrinsic nature. The spatial extent of the regions occupied by cells displaying these distinct metabolic phenotypes is large enough to be detected using clinically applicable metabolic imaging techniques. A limitation of the study is that it is based on only two patient tumours, albeit on multiple sections, and therefore represents a proof-of-concept study.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Biotechnology > Bio-Diagnostics
Divisions:	Chemical & Biological Sciences
Identification number/DOI:	10.1038/s42255-025-01293-y
Last Modified:	08 May 2026 14:33
URI:	https://eprintspublications.npl.co.uk/id/eprint/10378