Why cancer cells waste so much energy
news.mit.edu
Why cancer cells waste so much energy
1–10 of 199 posts
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#2So the cancer cells went with the non-blocking, albeit slower algorithm. With aerobic, pipelines could get filled with ATP and end up blocking the essential NAD+. So the optimization was a loosely decoupled slower fermentation process over the faster aerobic process. Back pressure avoided and all that.
So tempting to go with analogies we are familiar with.
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#3So the cancer cells went with the non-blocking, albeit slower algorithm. With aerobic, pipelines could get filled with ATP and end up blocking the essential NAD+. So the optimization was a loosely decoupled slower fermentation process over the faster aerobic process. Back pressure avoided and all that. So tempting to go with analogies we are familiar with.
"The findings suggest that drugs that force cancer cells to switch back to aerobic respiration instead of fermentation could offer a possible way to treat tumors. Drugs that inhibit NAD+ production could also have a beneficial effect, the researchers say."
And hopefully that's a path to follow that will help treat/cure some types of cance? This all just barely makes sense to me, but my first question was "Does this help beat cancer in a new way?" and I guess the answer is... maybe?
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#4So the cancer cells went with the non-blocking, albeit slower algorithm. With aerobic, pipelines could get filled with ATP and end up blocking the essential NAD+. So the optimization was a loosely decoupled slower fermentation process over the faster aerobic process. Back pressure avoided and all that. So tempting to go with analogies we are familiar with.
"The findings suggest that drugs that force cancer cells to switch back to aerobic respiration instead of fermentation could offer a possible way to treat tumors. Drugs that inhibit NAD+ production could also have a beneficial effect, the researchers say." And hopefully that's a path to follow that will help treat/cure some types of cance? This all just barely makes sense to me, but my first question was "Does this h…
It sounds like there's speculation that yes it potentially could, in theory, but it needs to be tested.
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#5YSK, cancer as a metabolic disease, and tripping over the truth, are excellent books about this, and why we got cancer wrong since watson and crick.
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#6So the cancer cells went with the non-blocking, albeit slower algorithm. With aerobic, pipelines could get filled with ATP and end up blocking the essential NAD+. So the optimization was a loosely decoupled slower fermentation process over the faster aerobic process. Back pressure avoided and all that. So tempting to go with analogies we are familiar with.
"The findings suggest that drugs that force cancer cells to switch back to aerobic respiration instead of fermentation could offer a possible way to treat tumors. Drugs that inhibit NAD+ production could also have a beneficial effect, the researchers say." And hopefully that's a path to follow that will help treat/cure some types of cance? This all just barely makes sense to me, but my first question was "Does this h…
Article also says that other cells using this process include immune cells, so I wouldn’t be on this being a silver bullet.
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#7So the cancer cells went with the non-blocking, albeit slower algorithm. With aerobic, pipelines could get filled with ATP and end up blocking the essential NAD+. So the optimization was a loosely decoupled slower fermentation process over the faster aerobic process. Back pressure avoided and all that. So tempting to go with analogies we are familiar with.
"The findings suggest that drugs that force cancer cells to switch back to aerobic respiration instead of fermentation could offer a possible way to treat tumors. Drugs that inhibit NAD+ production could also have a beneficial effect, the researchers say." And hopefully that's a path to follow that will help treat/cure some types of cance? This all just barely makes sense to me, but my first question was "Does this h…
It is a basic research question - it doesn't produce directly usable results, but the better understanding may be helpful in the long run.
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#8So the cancer cells went with the non-blocking, albeit slower algorithm. With aerobic, pipelines could get filled with ATP and end up blocking the essential NAD+. So the optimization was a loosely decoupled slower fermentation process over the faster aerobic process. Back pressure avoided and all that. So tempting to go with analogies we are familiar with.
"The findings suggest that drugs that force cancer cells to switch back to aerobic respiration instead of fermentation could offer a possible way to treat tumors. Drugs that inhibit NAD+ production could also have a beneficial effect, the researchers say." And hopefully that's a path to follow that will help treat/cure some types of cance? This all just barely makes sense to me, but my first question was "Does this h…
Or maybe not because cancer cells do not exist in vacuum but are part of the body.
You will force your own cells to do so: red blood cells, certain immune cells etc.
We already do something along those lines - reducing sugar input via diet and sugar neogensis via metformin.
Be all that as it may, the finding is astounding.
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#9At the end of the day life is a series of ever complex systems of inputs and outputs. I'm not surprised by the findings and the resolution to this paradox.
When we look at apparent inefficiencies of life systems (singletons and complete systems) we have to take into account setting and environmental factors as well as the various layers of abstraction.
Looking down at cancer (similar to a defect in software) and questioning why it behaves in seemingly counter intuitive ways makes it all the more appearent that we are still at the tip of our scientific and spiritual understanding for models of healthy systems, both cellularly and holistically as life on our planet.
As above so below.
Based on this research cancer switches to a process which accepts the inputs at hand and processes outputs for growth (often rapid growth).
Regardless of how it looks as a spectator, the cells inside you make billions of individual decisions each second and those decisions may have eventual degrgations over time with enough entropy.
The cell has blueprints and is on a mission, sometimes it's mission is corrupted or the order of operations is abnormal.
I like how they make mention yeast fermentation as a similar process and I didnt know our cells could run both processes. I wonder why? Do we use fermentation at various parts of our human development?
Re: Why cancer cells waste so much energy
#10[deleted]