INTERMEDIARY METABOLISM OF FAST-GROWTH TUMOR-CELLS

Tumor cells show several modifications in their metabolism in comparis on with normal cells, In particular, tumor cells show an accelerated g lycolysis and a low O-2 dependence, which are metabolic modifications involved in the resistance of many tumor cell lines to radiation. Thus , a strategy to enhance the radiosensitivity could be the transformati on of the glycolytic metabolism of tumor cells into an oxidative type of metabolism, i.e., to induce the ATP supply to depend solely on oxid ative phosphorylation. Therefore, this review emphasizes the relevance of oxidative phosphorylation on tumor cells regarding (a) its contrib ution to ATP supply for cell duplication during the proliferative phas e, and (b) the possible therapeutic implications of having oxidative r ather than glycolytic tumor cells.