Energy Boost: The Warburg Effect Returns in a New Theory of Cancer

Extract

In 1930, German biochemist Otto Warburg, M.D., proposed that cancer was caused by altered metabolism—deranged energy processing—in the cell. Warburg, winner of a Nobel Prize in 1931, is now considered by many to be the greatest biochemist of the first half of the 20th century. His cancer theory, though, mostly fell on deaf ears. Altered metabolism “may be a symptom of [cancer], but not the primary cause,” wrote fellow biochemist and Nobelist Hans Krebs, M.D., Ph.D., echoing the majority viewpoint. Warburg went to his grave in 1970 insisting he was right, but for 30 years his cancer theory appeared to be buried along with its originator.

Now Warburg's theory is enjoying a resurrection. Two prominent cancer biologists contend that a shift in energy production from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis—the so-called “Warburg effect”—is a fundamental property of cancer cells, not just a byproduct of the cell's transformation into cancer. “We think it's a requirement of transformation,” said University of Pennsylvania cancer biologist Craig Thompson, M.D. “ You can't become fully transformed until you've had this shift.” If Thompson is right, the implication is enormous: a whole new area of vulnerability for cancer cells, one that promises novel targeted treatments. “ Can we exploit any of this for therapeutic reasons?” asked Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., a cell biologist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore who is doing similar work. “The answer is going to be yes.”