Tag Archives: cancer metabolism

WP1122 is a 2-deoxy-D-glucose prodrug in pre-clinical development for glioblastoma

The Warburg Effect is a universal feature of cancer; it describes the phenomenon whereby cancer cells preferentially use glucose for anaerobic glycolysis, as opposed to aerobic respiration via the Krebs Cycle. In order to meet the increased energy demands using a much less efficient process for ATP production, cancer cells take-up 20-times more glucose than wild-type cells. Continue reading

The Warburg Effect: Multiple Proposed Roles in Cancer – Conor McAuliffe, Contributor

In the 1920’s Otto Warburg first discovered that tumor cells bypass normal cellular respiration i.e. glucose converted to pyruvate through glycolysis, and the sequential oxidation of pyruvate through the Krebs Cycle in the mitochondria. Instead tumor cells divert pyruvate to lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), which reduces pyruvate into lactate. This type of metabolism, referred to as The Warburg Effect, is normally observed in cells in hypoxic or anaerobic environments, in cells that are proliferating, or in cells in which the accumulation of pyruvate exceeds the capacity of the mitochondria.  Continue reading