New paradigms for metabolic modeling of human cells

Abnormalities in cellular functions are associated with the progression of human diseases, often resulting in metabolic reprogramming. GEnome-scale metabolic Models (GEMs) have enabled studying global metabolic reprogramming in connection with disease development in a systematic manner. Here we review recent work on reconstruction of GEMs for human cell/tissue types and cancer, and the use of GEMs for identification of metabolic changes occurring in response to disease development. We further discuss how GEMs can be used for the development of efficient therapeutic strategies. Finally, challenges in integration of cell/tissue models for simulation of whole body functions as well as integration of GEMs with other biological networks for generating complete cell/tissue models are presented.