Metabolic Rewiring and Warburg-Like Biochemistry in Tumour Microenvironment Cells of Cervical Cancer in North Central Nigeria

The Warburg effect, describing aerobic glycolysis preference of tumour cells, is well established in cancer biochemistry, but the metabolic reprogramming of tumour microenvironment stromal cells in cervical cancer within Nigerian populations has not been characterised. This study investigates metabolic rewiring, including glycolytic enzyme expression, lactate production, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, and one-carbon metabolism in tumour microenvironment cells, including cancer-associated fibroblasts and tumour-associated macrophages, in cervical cancer patients at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, North Central Nigeria. A translational design was employed, utilising both fresh tumour biopsy tissue and circulating metabolomic plasma profiling in 60 cervical cancer patients staged I to IV and 40 healthy controls. Glycolytic enzyme expression (HK2, PKM2, LDHA) was assessed by Western blotting in freshly isolated tumour microenvironment cells. Lactate, pyruvate, and TCA cycle metabolites were measured by targeted LC-MS/MS in tissue and plasma. Mitochondrial respiration was characterised by Seahorse XF Analyser in ex vivo primary cell cultures. HPV genotyping was performed by linear array. Integrative analysis connected HPV subtype with metabolic reprogramming severity. Findings generate an original biochemical framework for metabolic symbiosis in cervical cancer TME within a Nigerian population context. Keywords: Warburg effect, tumour microenvironment, cervical cancer, metabolic reprogramming, HPV.