Massachusetts Institute of Technology research sheds light on the long question of why cancer cells get their energy from fermentation. In the 1920s, Otto Warburg, a chemist, discovered that cancer cells do not metabolize sugar in the same way that healthy cells normally do.
Since then, scientists have tried to find out why cancer cells use this pathway, which is less effective.
As mentioned, biologists at MIT have now discovered a possible answer to this enduring question. In research published in Molecular Cell, the researchers showed that this metabolic pathway identified as foaming helps cells regenerate large numbers of molecules known as NAD +, which they should synthesize DNA and other essential molecules.
According to SciTechDaily, the results of a study by MIT biologists also account for the fact that other types of rapidly declining cells, such as immune cells, “change beyond fermentation.”
CENTRAL RESPONSE: Medical experts explain that immunotherapy can treat some types of cancer
(Photo: Satheesh Sankaran on Pixabay)
The results of MIT biologists ‘study also account for the fact that other types of rapidly declining cells, such as immune cells,’ change over copying. ‘
One hundred year old paradox
MIT associate professor of biology Matthew Vander Heiden, associate director at the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, said this has been a “centenary paradox that many people have tried” explaining in several ways.
The researchers found that, under certain conditions, more cells of the reactions should undergo electron transfer, which requires NAD +, to make molecules like DNA.
Vander Heiden is the lead author of the new study, and the lead graduate and postdoc authors at MIT Scotland Luengo, Ph.D. ’18, and Zhaoqi Li, also a graduate student.
‘Fermentation’
Fermentation is one way in which cells can convert the energy contained in sugar into ATP, a chemical that cells use to store energy for all their needs.
Nevertheless, mammalian cells typically break down sugar by using a process called “aerobic relief,” which produces much more ATP.
Cells usually migrate to foaming only when they do not have enough oxygen to produce aerobic relief.
Since the discovery of Warburg, scientists have put forward several theories for the reason that cancer cells are transitioning to the inefficient copying pathway.
Initially, Warburg suggested that the mitochondria of cancer cells, where aerobic relief occurs, could be damaged, although this was in the cited report, “it turned out as it was.
Trying to solve the paradox
The biologists tested this idea in other types of fast-growing cells, including immune cells. They found that inhibition of copying only allowed substitution modalities of NAD + production to allow cells to continue to divide rapidly.
The researchers observed a similar phenomenon in non-mammalian cells such as yeast, which perform a different type of ethanol-generated copying.
Heiden said, not all multiplication cells need to do this. It’s really just really fast-growing cells. If sales grow so fast that their demand for a product exceeds the level of ATP they burn, that is when they go over to the type this metabolism. So it solves, “in my mind, a lot of the paradoxes that have been there,” Heiden said.
The findings of the study suggest that drugs that cause cancer cells to revert to aerobic relief rather than fermentation may be a viable way to treat tumors. Drugs that inhibit NAD + production may also have beneficial effects, the biologists explained.
RELATED TOPIC: It may feel uncomfortable, but wearing a mask during exercise should not harm oxygen intake
Check out more Cancer Cells news and information on the Science Times.