Cancer and Glucose 1271 High Street, Auburn, CA 95603 • Phone (530) 823-7092 • order line (800) 359-6091 Hours: Tues. – Fri. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. • E-mail: [email protected] web: www.ImageAwareness.com June 2017 Volume 13: Issue 2 Introduction Afterwards, it is believed, he feared causes of cancer. He said, “Cancer, the development of cancer. This prob- above all other diseases, has countless Louis Pasteur observed two types ably saved Warburg’s life. He was the seconday causes. Almost anything of energy production in the world of most prominent cancer researcher in can cause cancer, but even for cancer, single cells. The most primitive form Germany during the Second World there is only one prime cause. The of energy production is anaerobic and War. Hitler turned a blind eye to his prime cause of cancer is the replace- does not use oxygen. This process is Jewish ancestry and ordered him to ment of oxygen in normal body cells also called fermentation and is utilized continue his research on cancer. by fermentation of sugar.” in manufacture of beer and wine. This is considered a more primitive form In 1944, Warburg was nominated Reference: of energy production. for a second Nobel Prize by Albert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Heinrich_ Szent-Gyorgyi, the scientist who iso- Warburg The second form of energy produc- http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medi- lated vitamin C, for his discovery of tion noted by Pasteur is aerobic which cine/laureates/1931/warburg-bio.html the involvement of nicotinamide (vi- means that it utilized oxygen. This Christofferson, Travis, Tripping Over the Truth, tamin B3) and flavin in fermentation. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent process is also called respiration. It is Flavin is a yellow pigment found in Publishing Platform, 2014, 32. the form of energy production used by enzymes and vitamin B2. Hitler for- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/DNA#/ most multicellular organisms. media/File:Dna-split.png bade Germans from accepting Nobel Otto Warburg Prizes in 1937. Warburg showed that normal body The DNA Hypothesis Otto Warburg greatly admired cells turned to cancer cells when they Louis Pasteur. He became convinced Percivall Pott was the first scientist are deprived of oxygen for even a few that a defect in energy metabolism to show that cancer could be caused hours time. There was no need to in- was central to the development of by an environmental carcinogen. In troduce carcinogens, radiation, or vi- cancer. He believed this because of 1775 Pott associated chimney soot as ruses to achieve this transformation. the nonspecific nature of the disease. a direct contact carcinogen leading This led Warburg to conclude and to scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps. Warburg won a Nobel Prize in promote the idea that the creation of The primary carcinogen in chimney 1931 for his discoveries relating to cancer cells was due to a defect in cel- soot is also a prime energy production in cells. One of his lular energy metabolism which later suspect in various observations was that cancerous cells came to be identified with the mito- cancers caused by can live and develop in the absence of chondria or energy factories of the smoking cigarettes. oxygen. Today the ability of cancer cells. Pott’s work result- cells to ferment glucose even in the Warburg never gave up his convic- ed in the Chimney presence of oxygen is known as “the tion that the primary cause of cancer Sweepers Act of Warburg effect.” was alterations in glucose metabolism 1788 which sought Warburg had a Jewish father and and energy production. In 1966 at age to reduce the risk lived in Germany throughout the Sec- 82 near the end of his life Warburg of cancer among ond World War. In 1935 Hitler had a summarized his belief about cancer as the young boys polyp removed from his vocal cords. he discussed primary and secondary who were working Copyright © 2017 by Jim McAfee. All rights reserved. 1 specific. the voracious appetite of cancer cells fir glucose. Warburg Continues Hexokinase II binds with a protein Pete Pedersen of Johns Hopkins called VDAC preventing suicide of worked in a laboratory run by Albert cancer cells (apoptosis) and making Lehninger. Leninger had discovered cancer cells immortal. Hexokinase II that mitochondria were the site of also positions itself in the cell in such the cells’ energy production. He also a way that it can steal ATP (the energy as chimney sweeps. knew Warburg personally. Like a dog produced by the cell). In 1966 Francis Peyton Rous was after a stick, Pedersen became fixated In 1991 a brilliant South Korean awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on the metabolism of cancer cells. He scientist, Young Hee Ko, came to showing that viruses could cause found that the cancers that grew the work in Pedersen’s laboratory. She cancer. In 1911 a woman walked fastest and were most aggressive had discovered that a molecule called 3BP into the Rockefeller Institute in New a smaller number of mitochondria and (3-bromopyruvate) could enter the York City carrying a chicken with a fermented more glucose. Tumor cells cell and mortally damage hexokinase large tumor on its breast. Rous surgi- that grew the fastest invariably had II. Ko demonstrated that this com- cally removed the tumor, sliced it into about half the mitochondria of normal pound was much more effective than pieces and placed it into the bodies of body cells. traditional chemotherapeutic agents at other chickens which subsequently Mitochondria of cancer cells were killing cancer cells in virtually every developed cancer. Later Rous filtered also abnormal in structure. They were type of cancer cell tested. Over 100 out bacteria and cancer cells showing missing important internal mem- tissue studies demonstrated the ef- that viruses were causing the cancers. branes and had abnormal protein and fectiveness of the compound against In 1953 James Watson and Fran- lipid content. Pedersen has discovered cis Crick discovered the structure why the Warburg effect takes place. of DNA. It became obvious that the In 1977 Pedersen and a graduate stu- DNA stored information. The scien- dent, Ernesto Bustamante, identified tific community moved away from a chemical messenger, mitochondrial Warburg’s focus on the mitochondrial hexokinase, responsible for pushing origin of cancer and concluded that cells into utilization of fermentation defects in the DNA caused by chemi- for energy production. cal carcinogens, viral infection, or ra- Hexokinase exists in four differ- dioactivity. ent forms (isozymes). The cancer cell It did not take long to trace the produces vastly more hexokinase II, cancer-causing virus Rous had found normally present in only tiny quanti- in chickens to a defect in a specific ties in the normal cells of the body. gene triggered by the virus. It was This form of the enzyme forces glu- named src for sarcoma. This gene was cose down the fermentation pathway found to regulate kinases, key signal- and ignores the regulatory signals of ing molecules in the cell. The viral the cell to slow down. version of the src gene was stuck in The fact that cancer cells stuff the on position causing cells to divide themselves with glucose due to high over and over again. Science began a levels of hexokinase II became the ba- largely fruitless search of DNA for the sis for the PET scan, one of the most cause of cancer. accurate means of identifying where The association of cancer with cancer tumors exist in the body. A DNA led to chemotherapeutic treat- glucose molecule is combined with a ments targeted at preventing replica- fluoride molecule. This “tagged glu- tion of DNA. These treatments kill cose” (FDG or gluorodeoxyglucose) cancer cells, but they also have a can be easily detected by the PET devastating effect on healthy cells. scan. The PET scan is utilized in vir- In other words, the treatments are not tually every cancer center in the world and provides powerful illustration of Copyright © 2017 by Jim McAfee. All rights reserved. 2 Evans, Josie M., et al., Metformin and reduced as a Metabolic Disease. It this book risk of cancer in diabetic patients, BMJ, June 4, 2005,330:1304-1305. he argues that epigenetic signaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percivall_Pott travels from damaged mitochondria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_Sweep- to the nucleus of the cell altering the ers_Act_1788 expression of the genes which have https://commons.wikimedia.org/ the potential to cause cancer. This sig- wiki/Category:Mitochondria#/media/ File:Blausen_0644_Mitochondria.png naling by the mitochondria is called By Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck - Own work, CC the “retrograde response.” BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/in- The signals from the damaged mi- dex.php?curid=17398088 tochondria alter the energy production cancer cells. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Ko then tested the compound on File:Ketogenic_diets_pie.png of the cell from aerobic metabolism to rabbits. The compound killed cancer fermentation of glucose as a source of cells in living rabbits without killing Caloric Restriction energy for the cell. the animals. Rat studies produced Caloric restriction and fasting In other words, the mitochondria similar results. have been repeatedly shown to reduce are sending a message to the DNA of Ko also was able to sucessfully the risk of cancer and retard cancer the cell: “We cannot produce energy treat one human subject with her growth in both animals and humans. in a normal way and need to alter the compound. At this point the promis- These practices promote improved functioning of this cell to ferment glu- ing new compound became tied up in energy production and rejuvenation cose.