Francesco Massari, Chiara Ciccarese, Matteo Santoni, Roberto Iacovelli, Roberta Mazzucchelli, Francesco Piva, Marina Scarpelli, Rossana Berardi, Giampaolo Tortora, Antonio Lopez-Beltran, Liang Cheng, Rodolfo Montironi
Metabolism of bladder cancer represents a key issue for cancer research. Several metabolic altered pathways are involved in bladder tumorigenesis, representing therefore interesting targets for therapy. Tumor cells, including urothelial cancer cells, rely on a peculiar shift to aerobic glycolysis-dependent metabolism (the Warburg-effect) as the main energy source to sustain their uncontrolled growth and proliferation. Therefore, the high glycolytic flux depends on the overexpression of glycolysis-related genes (SRC-3, glucose transporter type 1 [GLUT1], GLUT3, lactic dehydrogenase A [LDHA], LDHB, hexokinase 1 [HK1], HK2, pyruvate kinase type M [PKM], and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha [HIF-1α]), resulting in an overproduction of pyruvate, alanine and lactate...
April 2016: Cancer Treatment Reviews