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Lactate as an insidious metabolite due to the Warburg effect

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Abstract

Although oncogenetics remains a critical component of cancer biology and therapeutic research, recent interest has been taken towards the non-genetic features of tumour development and progression, such as cancer metabolism. Specifically, it has been observed that tumour cells are inclined to preferentially undergo glycolysis despite presence of adequate oxygen. First reported by Otto Warburg in the 1920s, and now termed the ‘Warburg effect’, this aberrant metabolism has become of particular interest due to the prevalence of the fermentation phenotype in a variety of cancers studied. Consequently, this phenotype has proven to play a pivotal role in cancer proliferation. As such Warburg’s observations are now being integrated within the modern paradigms of cancer and in this review we explore the role of lactate as an insidious metabolite due to the Warburg effect.

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Acknowledgments

TCK is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and the Epigenomic Medicine Laboratory is supported by McCord Research. Supported in part by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epigenomic Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, 75 Commercial Road, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Raymond Luc, Katherine Ververis & Tom C. Karagiannis

  2. Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Raymond Luc, Katherine Ververis & Tom C. Karagiannis

  3. Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Stephanie M. Tortorella

  4. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Stephanie M. Tortorella

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  1. Raymond Luc
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  2. Stephanie M. Tortorella
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  3. Katherine Ververis
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  4. Tom C. Karagiannis
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Correspondence to Tom C. Karagiannis.

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Luc, R., Tortorella, S.M., Ververis, K. et al. Lactate as an insidious metabolite due to the Warburg effect. Mol Biol Rep 42, 835–840 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-015-3859-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-015-3859-9

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