Role and Regulation of Glucose Metabolism in Proliferating Cells

The history of the interest in glucose metabolism in malignantly transformed cells dates back to the pioneering studies of Warburg. These studies led to the statement, in 1956: “The era in which the fermentation of cancer cells, or its importance, could be debated is over and no-one today can doubt that we understand the origin of cancer cells if we know how their large fermentation originates, or to express it more fully, if we know how the damaged respiration and the excessive fermentation of cancer cells originates.” Even at this time, doubts were expressed about the respiratory deficiency of tumor cells.