Hypothesis of mitochondrial oncogenesis as the trigger of normal cells to cancer cells.
The Warburg Effect showed that energy metabolism of cancer cells was similar to prokaryotic cells, which were different from normal eucaryotic cells. The Endosymbiotic Theory offered a plausible explanation that the eucaryotic cells were evolved from prokaryotic cells, by which host cells (ancient prokaryotic cells) had ingested mitochondria (ancient aerobic bacteria), which depended on oxidative phosphorylation rather than glycolysis for generating energy. The alteration of energy metabolism might mean that the survival style of cancer cells were the re-evolution from eucaryotic cells to prokaryotic cells. But how this alteration happened was still unknown. This hypothesis tries to explain how mitochondria take part in the re-evolution from normal cell to cancer cell.
Department of Oncology, Anhui Provincial Hospital, Hefei, PR China. Electronic address: djppk@163.com.
Jianping
J
Du
D005075:Biological Evolution; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological