Reprogramming Energy Metabolism

Discussion

In this discussion, we are going to focus on Hallmark 9: Reprogramming Energy Metabolism. This Hallmark is one of the two new emerging hallmarks published in the updated Hallmarks of Cancer publication. Uncontrolled and chronic cellular proliferation would naturally require more energy than what would be typically required for a normal cell. Otto Warburg (Warburg effect – aerobic glycolysis) was the first to observe abnormal energy metabolism in cancer cells. Recently, a new publication has highlighted the importance of altered energy metabolism in cancer and has crafted a separate set of hallmarks specific to cancer metabolism (The Emerging Hallmarks of Cancer Metabolism).

1. Provide an overview of the Warburg effect and what makes this form of metabolism so different compared to what we would expect to happen in the normal cell.

2. Select a topic of interest related to cancer metabolism. You can discuss one of the new emerging hallmarks of cancer metabolism or tie in normal metabolism and some aspect of abnormal metabolism utilized by cancer (e.g. amino acid metabolism, nadh, metabolites).

Make sure your post is substantial and addresses both topics and be sure to include complete and properly formatted references in order to receive credit for this post.