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This article reports on the use of mannose functionalisation of nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery in cancer. By decorating nanoparticle surfaces with mannose moieties, researchers exploited mannose-receptor–mediated uptake in tumour or immune cells, achieving improved drug accumulation at tumour sites, reduced off-target toxicity, and enhanced therapeutic efficacy in preclinical models. The study underscores mannose as not just a metabolic agent but also a delivery facilitator in oncologic treatment systems.

This review article analyses how cancer cells exploit metabolic pathways and how mannose—being the C-2 epimer of glucose—can counteract the “Warburg effect” by entering the glycolytic pathway inefficiently, thereby slowing tumour cell proliferation. When mannose catabolism is compromised in cancer cells (e.g., low MPI activity), mannose leads to a metabolic bottleneck, making tumour cells more chemosensitive and less capable of sustaining growth. The review outlines mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities for targeting mannose metabolism in oncology.

This study reveals that mannose metabolism plays a critical role in T-cell function within the tumour microenvironment: diminished mannose metabolism is identified as a hallmark of T-cell dysfunction and exhaustion, whereas enhanced mannose metabolism supports T-cell stemness and effector differentiation. The authors show through single-cell metabolic profiling that boosting mannose flux in T cells improves their anti-tumour activity, suggesting a novel immunometabolic axis that could be targeted to improve cancer immunotherapy.

This study shows that D-mannose activates AMPK in triple-negative breast cancer cells, leading to accelerated degradation of PD-L1—the key protein tumours use to evade immune detection. By lowering PD-L1 levels, mannose makes cancer cells more responsive to immune-checkpoint therapy, resulting in stronger anti-tumour effects in preclinical models.

This study demonstrates that mannose slows glioma progression by supporting myeloperoxidase-driven oxidative mechanisms that inhibit tumour growth. Mannose-treated gliomas show reduced proliferation and improved response in preclinical models.

This research confirms that mannose increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy in colorectal cancer by inhibiting the PPP, reducing NADPH, increasing oxidative stress, and leaving cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapeutic agents.

This study reveals that excessive mannose leads to metabolic congestion in cancer cells, depleting dNTP pools necessary for DNA replication and repair. The resulting genomic instability weakens tumour survival and highlights a metabolic vulnerability that could be therapeutically exploited.

The authors show that mannose enhances responses to immunotherapy and radiotherapy by promoting the degradation of PD-L1, a protein tumour cells use to evade immune attack. Reducing PD-L1 levels increases tumour sensitivity to immune-mediated destruction and significantly improves therapeutic outcomes.

This research shows that mannose suppresses lung cancer progression by slowing cell proliferation, enhancing apoptosis—particularly in combination with cisplatin—and reducing metastatic spread. Mannose disrupts cancer cell metabolism and strengthens the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy.

This review explains how mannose and fructose metabolism intersects with inherited metabolic disorders and cancer biology. It highlights how defects in mannose metabolism affect glycosylation pathways and discusses how tumour cells exploit or become vulnerable to altered mannose flux, pointing to therapeutic opportunities by targeting these sugar pathways.

This pivotal study shows that mannose accumulates as mannose-6-phosphate in tumour cells, causing a bottleneck in glycolysis and disrupting energy metabolism. As a result, tumour growth slows, and cancer cells become more susceptible to chemotherapy, especially drugs like cisplatin and doxorubicin. The combined effect significantly enhances treatment outcomes and reduces tumour aggressiveness.

This study shows that mannose interferes with the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) in colorectal cancer cells, lowering NADPH production and weakening antioxidant defences, which in turn slows tumour growth. By disrupting this metabolic route, mannose makes cancer cells significantly more vulnerable to oxidative stress and enhances the therapeutic impact of 5-fluorouracil, leading to improved chemosensitivity and reduced tumour viability in experimental models.

This review article examines Mannose and its emerging potential in treating cancer and inflammation. The authors highlight how mannose is poorly used by mammalian glycolysis but can accumulate as mannose-6-phosphate, disrupting tumour cell glucose metabolism (especially in cells with low expression of the enzyme mannose phosphate isomerase) and thereby inhibiting growth, enhancing chemotherapy and reducing metastasis. They also review evidence that mannose promotes immune tolerance by generating regulatory T cells and suppresses inflammatory pathways (for example by reducing hyaluronan synthesis), suggesting applications in autoimmune disorders and allergic inflammation. Finally, they caution that although mannose shows promise as a safe dietary-derived molecule, further work is needed to determine effective human doses, mechanisms and long-term safety.