Fig. 2

The relationship between glycolysis and tumors. In the upper part of the figure, the glycolysis pathway is depicted for both normal and tumor cells, with a focus on the involvement of m6A regulators in glucose metabolism. The lower part of the figure illustrates how glycolysis impacts various aspects of tumor biology, including proliferation, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, metastasis, immune escape, and its relevance to tumor prognosis evaluation and treatment. (I) Changes in glycolysis enzymes within tumor cells influence tumor proliferation by affecting glycolysis. (II) Enhanced tumor glycolysis contributes to angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. (III) Elevated tumor glycolysis promotes tumor metastasis. (IV) Increased tumor glycolysis inhibits the activity of T and NK cells, affects PD-L1 expression, and promotes the generation of MDSCs, thereby inducing tumor immune escape. (V) The substantial uptake of 18 F-FDG by tumor cells leads to the accumulation of FDG-6-phosphate, which can be imaged using PET/CT. (VI) Attenuation of tumor glycolysis inhibits proliferation, enhances chemosensitivity, and promotes apoptosis in cancer cells