Mitochondrial Correction: A New Therapeutic Paradigm for Cancer and Degenerative Diseases

Page 1

OPEN ACCESS VOLUME 33, NUMBER 4 PUBLISHED: AUGUST 2018 REVIEW ARTICLE SYNTHESIS PAPER

Mitochondrial Correction: A New Therapeutic Paradigm for Cancer and Degenerative Diseases

Michael J Gonzalez¹; Thomas Seyfried²; Garth L Nicolson³; Barry J Barclay4; Jaime Matta5; Alex Vasquez6; Dominic D’Agostino7; Jose Olalde8; Jorge Duconge9; Ron Hunninghake10; Miguel J Berdiel11; Amanda Cintrón12 1. University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, School of Public Health; 2. Boston College, Department of Biology; 3. The Institute for Molecular Medicine; 4. SunHealthRx Inc; 5. Ponce Health Sciences University, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; 6. ICHNFM; 7. University of South Florida, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology; 8. CMA Bayamon; 9. University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, School of Pharmacy; 10. Riordan Clinic¹; 11. Berdiel Clinic; 12. Ponce Health Sciences University, School of Medicine

Introduction Cancer and other degenerative diseases are increasing to epidemic proportions in all industrialized countries. Many of these degenerative diseases show some familial association, thus a genetic basis has been assumed. Yet, the nature and frequency of genetic variants in the human population has not changed significantly in the past 50 years, even though the incidence of these diseases has climbed continuously (Wallace, 2005). Therefore, because the increased and increasing incidence of cancer cannot be attributed to population-wide genetic change during this short timeframe, the cause must be external to the genome, in the “environment”, which with relation to diet and chemical exposures, has altered radically in the past few decades. Cancer has been widely considered a genetic disease involving nuclear mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes; this view persists despite the numerous inconsistencies associated with the somatic mutation theory. In contrast to the somatic mutation theory, emerging evidence suggests that cancer is a mitochondrial metabolic disease, according to the original theory of Otto Warburg (Warburg, 1956). Respiratory insufficiency is the origin of cancer according to Warburg’s theory. We are proposing cancer as a mitochon-

drial disease where diseased or damaged mitochondria become more dependent on glucose and glutamine for fuel. A shift from oxidative phosphorylation to fermentation can cause cellular de-differentiation, an important characteristic of malignancy. As described already in the 1920s by Otto Warburg, cancer cells often show a shift in energy production from mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to cytosolic glycolysis (Warburg, Posener, Negelein & Ueber den Stoffwechsel der Tumoren, 1924). This so-called aerobic glycolysis, in which glucose is converted to pyruvate and lactate in spite of the presence of oxygen, is a major characteristic of most tumor cells. Importantly, this increase in glycolytic activity was similar to that observed in early embryonic cells. Thus cancer cells seem to resume a more primitive metabolic pattern (Gonzalez et al., 2012). This brings us to Albert Szent Gyorgi’s elucidation of malignancy as a reversion to the primordial state (Alpha State) from the oxidative or Beta State of normal cell functions. We can support these concepts by providing information about the nature, etiology and function of mitochondria in normal and cancer cells. Aerobic glycolysis not only provides the cell with ATP from

© 2018 International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine ISSN 0317-0209

1


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.