ABSTRACT
It is appropriate to reemphasize that the famous German biochemist Otto Warburg, who received a Nobel Prize in 1931 for later work, found that cancer cell metabolism, by and large, is anaerobic — that is, does not require oxygen — whereas normal cell metabolism is aerobic. Thus, cancer cell metabolism involves primarily the conversion of blood sugar or glucose (or its polymer, glycogen) ultimately to lactic acid or lactate by an enzyme-catalyzed anaerobic fermentation rather than the oxidation of glucose ultimately to carbon dioxide and water as occurs with normal cells. If a way can be found to nullify the specific enzyme catalysts required, then conceivably this could lead to a cure for cancer. (The pioneering work of Warburg is reviewed in a book by Hans Krebs titled
Otto Warburg: Cell Physiologist, Biochemist and Eccentric.
