{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T11:03:42Z","timestamp":1785409422103,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":97,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783468800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82505300"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82505300"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["82505300"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82505300"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004829","name":"Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2025ZNSFSC1797"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025ZNSFSC1797"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004829","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2025ZNSFSC1797"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025ZNSFSC1797"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04323m874","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Health Commission of Sichuan Province Medical Science and Technology","award":["24QNMP069"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["24QNMP069"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>N-Acetylaspartate (NAA), historically considered a brain-restricted neuro-metabolite, has emerged as a pivotal regulator in cancer biology. Governed by the biosynthetic enzyme N-acetyltransferase 8-like (NAT8L), the NAA axis exerts notable biological effects in malignancies. This review delineates the NAA axis as a context-dependent metabolic rheostat that is strategically hijacked by malignancies to orchestrate growth and immune evasion. Rather than a passive bystander, the NAA axis functions through distinct, histology-specific paradigms: it either serves as a metabolic reservoir to fuel lipid biomass expansion or is suppressed to redirect aspartate flux toward nucleotide biosynthesis, depending on the tumor\u2019s unique genetic and metabolic bottlenecks. Beyond cell-intrinsic reprogramming, tumor-derived NAA is increasingly linked to immune evasion by impairing cytotoxic lymphocyte function and driving pro-tumorigenic M2-like macrophage polarization. By reconciling these disparate oncogenic roles, this review highlights the NAA axis as an important node of metabolic plasticity and evaluates its potential utility as a circulating biomarker and a stratifiable therapeutic target in diverse human malignancies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27146105","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T17:27:31Z","timestamp":1783531651000},"page":"6105","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Emerging Role of N-Acetylaspartate in Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Yongzi","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"West China Centre of Excellence for Pancreatitis, Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, West China-Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenjuan","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"West China Centre of Excellence for Pancreatitis, Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, West China-Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linbo","family":"Yao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"West China Centre of Excellence for Pancreatitis, Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, West China-Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8659-322X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wei","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"West China Centre of Excellence for Pancreatitis, Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, West China-Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China"},{"name":"West China Biobank, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiyu","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"West China Centre of Excellence for Pancreatitis, Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, West China-Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"e47903","article-title":"Inter-organ communication: A gatekeeper for metabolic health","volume":"20","author":"Fajas","year":"2019","journal-title":"EMBO Rep."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"436","DOI":"10.1038\/s41580-019-0123-5","article-title":"Metabolic regulation of cell growth and proliferation","volume":"20","author":"Zhu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Nat. 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