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.