11/01/2023
So, what is the Warburg effect good for? Otto Warburg and subsequent scientists until the late 1990s were unable to answer this question satisfactory. Research since then has shown that a key function of the metabolic reprogramming in cancer is to generate glycolytic intermediates and other energy metabolites as substrates for anabolism, which is the part of metabolism that synthesises “cellular components from precursors of low molecular weight” (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry definition 1997). More specifically, proliferating cells take up more glucose, glutamine [8] and other small molecules, and then channel these molecules into glycolysis or other energy metabolic reactions, which are “feeder pathways” for anabolic reactions. These anabolic reactions include the synthesis of nucleotides for DNA and RNA, the synthesis of non-essential amino acids for protein synthesis and the synthesis of other macromolecules. How energy metabolism is connected to anabolism is for example illustrated by the IUBMB-Nicholson Metabolic Pathways Chart
