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Alterations in metabolism and metabolic enzyme function and carcinogenesis
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Abstract
Dr Otto Warburg (Nobel in 1931) in his lecture on Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in 1966, Germany, stated:
“Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes… But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. To summarise in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar…”
Growth and development of organisms are strictly dependent from availability of nutrients. Evolved specific mechanisms controlling those processes can help organisms to survive starvation. Calorific restriction leads to longer life span, but the opposite, too many calories are associated with obesity and tumourigenesis. On a cellular level, normal dividing cells activate particular metabolic pathways to accumulate cell mass and energy for DNA synthesis required for reproduction. By contrast tumour cells reprogramme their metabolism, possibly in controlled way, for uncontrolled division and growth. Some genes encoding metabolic enzymes are inactivated while others exhibit increased expression, causing metabolic changes in tumour cells. Recent studies showed that certain glycolytic enzymes mainly active in cytoplasm may move from cytoplasm to the nucleus where they can play different, nonglycolytic functions e.g., control the gene expression. Therefore, to understand the influence of metabolism on gene expression can be crucial to discovering the causes of carcinogenesis.
Abstract
Dr Otto Warburg (Nobel in 1931) in his lecture on Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in 1966, Germany, stated:
“Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes… But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. To summarise in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar…”
Growth and development of organisms are strictly dependent from availability of nutrients. Evolved specific mechanisms controlling those processes can help organisms to survive starvation. Calorific restriction leads to longer life span, but the opposite, too many calories are associated with obesity and tumourigenesis. On a cellular level, normal dividing cells activate particular metabolic pathways to accumulate cell mass and energy for DNA synthesis required for reproduction. By contrast tumour cells reprogramme their metabolism, possibly in controlled way, for uncontrolled division and growth. Some genes encoding metabolic enzymes are inactivated while others exhibit increased expression, causing metabolic changes in tumour cells. Recent studies showed that certain glycolytic enzymes mainly active in cytoplasm may move from cytoplasm to the nucleus where they can play different, nonglycolytic functions e.g., control the gene expression. Therefore, to understand the influence of metabolism on gene expression can be crucial to discovering the causes of carcinogenesis.
About this articleTitle
Alterations in metabolism and metabolic enzyme function and carcinogenesis
Journal
Nowotwory. Journal of Oncology
Issue
Article type
Review paper
Pages
151-159
Published online
2016-06-01
Page views
1445
Article views/downloads
11358
DOI
Bibliographic record
Nowotwory. Journal of Oncology 2016;66(2):151-159.
Authors
Elżbieta Sarnowska
Marcin Leszczyński
Ewelina Macech-Klicka
Małgorzata Stachowiak
Janusz A. Siedlecki