Cancer cells efficiently take up scarce fluctuating glucose: the transient 'super' Warburg effect.

What is it about?

Cancer cells are well known to produce lots of lactic acid, known as the famous 'Warburg effect'. This paper shows that this effect can be almost tenfold higher than usually found, but only for about a minute: glucose uptake and lactic acid production is briefly an order of magnitude higher if glucose reaches cancer cells that have had little glucose available for a while. The glycolytic enzyme system that takes up glucose is strongly and quickly regulated by the level of products of glucose. Tumor cells can use this transient 'super' Warburg effect to survive fluctuations in oxygen and nutrient levels which they probably experience in their environment.

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Why is it important?

To study the metabolic remodeling of cancer cells almost always metabolic rates are studied under conditions which are steady for a long time. The famous Warburg effect is an example: Otto Warburg measured lactic acid production during an hour. If his ascites tumor cells have seen little or no glucose for some time, they can produce lactic acid at a much higher rate. This high capacity glucose uptake and lactic acid producing system is subsequently inhibited in about a minute. This regulated, very powerful glucose uptake system may give cancer cells a selective advantage in their tissue environment where supply of oxygen, glucose and other nutrients by blood flow is often fluctuating, with frequent episodes of low blood flow. In this way cancer cells may outcompete other normal cells and immune cells.

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