Saccharomyces cerevisiae in cancer research: modeling tumor biology and enabling drug discovery

Cancer is a complex disease driven by genetic, metabolic, and environmental alterations, whose investigation is often constrained by the limited tractability of mammalian systems. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has emerged as a powerful eukaryotic model to study conserved cellular processes relevant to tumor biology in a simplified and scalable context and as a versatile platform for translational and biotechnological applications. Through genetic manipulation and heterologous expression, yeast allows systematic analysis of human cancer genes and variants, providing quantitative insights into their functional impact. In parallel, yeast reproduces fundamental features of cancer cell metabolism and stress adaptation, offering a controlled system to investigate cellular responses to environmental constraints. The conservation of major DNA repair and autophagy pathways further supports the use of yeast to study genome stability and survival mechanisms in cancer. Beyond its role in basic research, S. cerevisiae represents a scalable platform for anticancer drug discovery, enabling systematic identification of drug targets, resistance mechanisms, and genotype-specific vulnerabilities through high-throughput and engineered strain-based approaches. Continued development of yeast platforms, together with synthetic biology, functional genomics, and advanced genomic technologies, is expected to accelerate therapeutic innovation and improve our understanding of cancer biology. This review discusses recent advances in yeast-based cancer research, highlighting the contribution of engineered yeast platforms to the investigation of oncogenic signaling, metabolic rewiring, stress adaptation, DNA repair, and autophagy, reinforcing the role of yeast at the interface between cancer research and biotechnology.