ABSTRACT
A lthough significant advancem ents over the past decades w ere m ade in cell b iol ogy and m olecular biology of cancer, one of the m ost unexplored and forgotten areas of cancer biology and therapy of cancer, still rem ains the cancer cell m eta bolism . However, the latest inform ation from various m edical and biological sources published on M edline (Index M edicus), On line, C hem ical Abstracts, Biological A bstracts (Biosis), Current C ontents (Clinical M edicine & Life Sciences), and Excerpta M edica, revealed an increased evidence regarding the potential role of cancer cell m etabolism and its controlling factors for cancer developm ent, can cer progression, cancer treatm ent and nam ely for the developm ent of novel anti cancer drugs. Inasm uch as these scientific inform ation are in early experim ental and clinical stage, yet conflicting, an objective evaluation of the data regarding this unsettled area is greatly needed. Thus, the introduction and extensive use of new m ethods and accurate techniques for the study of cell ultrastructure, nuclear m atrix, genetic (heterochrom atin), D N A , chrom osom es and gene expression, m etabolic (enchrom atin), and m -RN A (m essenger RNA), lysosom es, cell surface receptors, m itochondrial D N A (m t-DN A) as w ell as m itochondrial m etabolism , significantly advanced our know ledge regarding cancer cell m etabolism . Also, studies regarding, glucose and energy transfer, electron and proton transfer, lipid peroxidation, and drug m etabolizing and detoxification enzym es m arkedly advanced our know ledge for the interm ediary cancer drug m etabolism . These m ethods as electron m icroscopy (EM ), scanning electron m icroscopy (SEM ), high voltage electron m icroscopy (H VEM ), freeze-etching, high resolution electron m icroscopic autoradiography (H RARG), flow cytom etry (FCM ) for D N A content, spectrophotom etry, estim ation of horm one, growth factors and vitam in receptor (HRs, GFRs, VDRs), nuclear m agnetic resonance (NMR) and directly coupled HPLC (high-perform ance liquid chrom atography)— N M R spectroscopy for elec tron and proton transfer, lipid peroxidation, drug m etabolism , and fluorescence spectroscopy and electron spin resonance, provide more accurate data to m onitor m olecular m otion (but only) in a lim ited time fram e. A ll these new procedures drastically changed our view s and rethinking of cancer cell m etabolism , chro m atin, chrom osom es and gene structure (1-10) (Fig. 1).
