The Warburg Effect Is a Guide to Multipurpose Cancer Therapy Including Trace Element Delivery
The Nobel Prize Winner (1931) Dr. Otto H. Warburg had established that the main energy source of the cancer cell is aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect). He also postulated the hypothesis about “the prime cause of cancer”, which is a matter of debate t
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Abstract The Nobel Prize Winner (1931) Dr. Otto H. Warburg had established that the main energy source of the cancer cell is aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect). He also postulated the hypothesis about “the prime cause of cancer”, which is a matter of debate till nowadays. On the contrary to the hypothesis, his discovery was completely recognized. However, the discovery had been almost vanished in the heat of battle about the hypothesis. The prime cause of cancer is important for the prevention and diagnosis, and yet the effects that influence on tumor growth are more important for cancer treatment. As a consequence of the Warburg effect, the recovery of the oxygen respiration of cancer cells can inhibit the tumor growth and lead to a remission. Here, we review the current knowledge of the inhibition of abnormal glycolysis and normalization of oxygen respiration of malignant tumor and a potential role of ultra trace element germanium in this process. Efficiency of different Ge-delivery molecules is also discussed. Keywords Warburg effect • Glycolysis • Cancer cells • Ge-delivery • Positron emission tomography • Treatment tailored to the person
A.V. Popov () Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, 231 South 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA e-mail: [email protected] L.G. Menchikov () N.D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 47 Leninsky prosp., 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation e-mail: [email protected] J. Coelho (ed.), Drug Delivery Systems: Advanced Technologies Potentially Applicable in Personalised Treatment, Advances in Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine 4, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6010-3__9, © Springer ScienceCBusiness Media Dordrecht 2013
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A.V. Popov and L.G. Menchikov
Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883–1970)
1 Introduction The Nobel Prize Winner (1931) Dr. Otto H. Warburg had established [1–7] that the main energy source of the cancer cell is aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect). In his opinion, the normalization of the oxygen respiration can slow the growth of cancer cells and, possibly, lead to a full recovery. Alas, no one in the 1920’s knew how to accomplish that (i.e. how to stop glycolysis and normalize the respiration of oxygen). On the basis of his works Warburg formulated the hypothesis, that “the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar” [8]. A comprehensive review of the works of Warburg was done by his student, H. Krebs [9], Nobel prize-winner (1953) (who thought that the Warburg effect just might be a symptom of an underlying root cause, that could be found at the gene level). For many years, Warburg’s theory raised controversy in scientific circles, but the generally accepted theory became that of genetic carcinogenesis [10–12]. It is now assumed that Warburg’s discovery only demonstrates a side effect, but is not the prime cause of cancer. Moreover, some tumor cells do not show the Warburg effect. Despite all this, Warburg’s hypothes
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