Targeting sialic acid metabolism: a therapeutic strategy against gastric cancer driven by WZ35

Glycolytic reprogramming is closely associated with the occurrence and progression of gastric cancer. Specifically, the energy derived from glucose metabolism and the cellular proteins by its intermediate products influence gastric cancer development. However, as an important branch of glucose metabolism, sialic acid metabolism and its mediated sialylation modifications remain insufficiently studied in gastric cancer, and their specific relationship with malignant tumor progression requires further exploration. This study employed a multi‑omics approach, integrating metabolomics, single‑cell RNA sequencing, and bulk RNA sequencing analyses, to investigate the metabolic landscape of gastric cancer and its associated alterations. The results indicated that sialic acid is a characteristic metabolite in malignant gastric cancer tissues. It modulates biological functions such as immune response, proliferative activity, and metabolic remodeling within gastric cancer tissues by influencing sialylation modifications. Furthermore, we identified the drug WZ35, which can inhibit the malignant proliferation of gastric cancer by targeting both sialic acid metabolism and sialylated protein modifications. We put forward a conjecture that the metabolism and modification of sialic acid promote the malignant development of gastric cancer, and we discovered that the drug WZ35 has an inhibitory effect on the sialic acid metabolism of gastric cancer.