Cancer as a metabolic disease: implications for novel therapeutics
- Biology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA and
- 1 Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
- ↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1 617 552 3563; Fax: +1 617 552 2011; Email:thomas.seyfried{at}bc.edu
- Received August 1, 2013.
- Revision received November 19, 2013.
- Accepted December 9, 2013.
Abstract
Emerging evidence indicates that cancer is primarily a metabolic disease involving disturbances in energy production through respiration and fermentation. The genomic instability observed in tumor cells and all other recognized hallmarks of cancer are considered downstream epiphenomena of the initial disturbance of cellular energy metabolism. The disturbances in tumor cell energy metabolism can be linked to abnormalities in the structure and function of the mitochondria. When viewed as a mitochondrial metabolic disease, the evolutionary theory of Lamarck can better explain cancer progression than can the evolutionary theory of Darwin. Cancer growth and progression can be managed following a whole body transition from fermentable metabolites, primarily glucose and glutamine, to respiratory metabolites, primarily ketone bodies. As each individual is a unique metabolic entity, personalization of metabolic therapy as a broad-based cancer treatment strategy will require fine-tuning to match the therapy to an individual’s unique physiology.
- Abbreviations:
- ATP
- adenosine triphosphate
- HBO2T
- hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- KD
- ketogenic diet
- OxPhos
- oxidative phosphorylation
- ROS
- reactive oxygen species
- SLP
- substrate level phosphorylation
- TCA
- tricarboxylic acid.
- © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.
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