ABSTRACT
Carbohydrate metabolism in cancer cells is linked to the “Warburg Effect” which states that, under aerobic conditions, cancer cells metabolize approximately 10-fold more glucose to lactate in a given time than normal cells; typically altered glycolytic pathway regulation. This has made the blocking of glycolytic pathway enzymes, a fascinating strategy to find treatment for cancer. This chapter addresses in a comprehensive manner the main glycolytic enzymes accounting for high-rate glycolysis in cancer cells. In addition, highlights of inhibitors that can be used to target the particular enzymes to decrease proliferation have also been done. Furthermore, besides the known inhibitors, molecular docking of certain methylated flavonoids was performed with the proteins (isozymes of carbohydrate metabolic pathway enzymes) to find the lead inhibitors. The compounds 2-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5,7-dimethyl-4H-chromen-4-one and 6-hydroxy-3,5,7,8-tetramethoxy-2- (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-4H -chromen-4-one showed potential binding against lactate dehydrogenase A and enolase 2 enzymes, respectively.
