Warburg Effect Reviewed: New Roles for Bifunctional Antidiabetic-Anticancer Active Hypoglycemics and Dysglycemics

Abstract

Ofodire Emeka

Otto Heinrich Warburg first described the phenomenon that majority of cancer cells preferentially use aerobic glycolysis for energy production.

The key towards effective tumor control lies in understanding the Warburg effect and the interplay between the 3 key factors and genes involved in the regulatory processes (c-MYC, HIF-1 and p53 factors).

Hyperglycemia is the major link between cancer and diabetes. It is a key factor in chemoresistance due to its effects on DNA and dysregulation of tumor growth through inhibition of tumor suppression genes and increase in migration of tumor cells. It is also a major factor in initiation and sustenance of oxidative stress, an underlying common pathology of both cancer and diabetes.

Several antidiabetics have demonstrable anticancer effects in vitro and in vivo due to their roles in regulating glucose metabolism.

The aim of this review is to investigate the mechanisms through which the Warburg process sustains tumor growth and proliferation and how this process can be exploited and reprogrammed to disrupt tumor metabolism by severance of glucose and oxygen supply to tumor cells, while causing minimal dysregulation of normal tissue process.

This review equally aims to identify new roles for Antidiabetics and Dysglycemics in tumor control.

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