Abstract
Background: Metabolic pathways are highly regulated biochemical pathways that manage cellular energy, growth, and homeostasis. There are many molecular mechanisms of pathway regulation, and pathway dysregulation is associated with an incredibly rich variety of human disease, including diabetes, cancer, and metabolic syndromes.
Objectives: The purpose of the paper is to illustrate basal regulation mechanisms of metabolic processes, to explain the most significant changes that are related to pathological processes, and to highlight clinical relevance of such dysregulation.
Methods: Adequate literature review was performed on the basis of peer-reviewed literature reports published between the years 2000–2025 that explained regulation mechanisms and disease associations for involved metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, TCA cycle, and lipid metabolism. Metabolic pathway dysregulation produces gross alteration in cell energy homeostasis and biosynthesis. Dysregulation of aberrant enzyme expression, endocrine abnormality, and gene mutation were major controllers of nascent metabolic diseases.
Conclusions: Molecular understanding of metabolic pathway regulation and dysregulation is master key to designing a new generation of drugs that will alter metabolic disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases.
Keywords: Metabolic pathways, regulation, dysregulation, disease, glycolysis, TCA cycle, lipid metabolism, metabolic syndrome, cancer metabolism, therapeutic targets.