Question

4. (6 Points) Compare and contrast the metabolism of “normal” versus tumor cells. What are tumor cells doing with the items they take in as “food?”

Answer 1

Normal cells and cancer cells follow different metabolic mecahnisms. Normal cells metabolized glucose through the pathways of glycolysis, Krebs cycle and electron transport system to generate large amount of energy in the form of ATP, about 36 to 38 ATP molecules. In contrast to normal cells cancerous cells consume glucose through different metabolic mechanism.

It was first observed by Otto warburg that metabolism of cancer cells is diiferent than that of normal cells. Cancer cells rely of glycolysis for their energy production. Cancer cells perform glycolysis even in presence of oxygen, the phenomenon called aerobic glycolysis or Warburg effect. Glycolysis is not the efficient pathway for energy production from glucose . It can only generate 2 ATP molecule per glucose molecule. Therefore cancerous cells require adequate supply of glucose. The extra amount of glucose is used for synthesis of macromolecules.