Warburg meets non-coding RNAs: the emerging role of ncRNA in regulating the glucose metabolism of cancer cells

Abstract

Unlike normal differentiated cells, cancer cells primarily rely on glycolysis to generate energy needed for cellular processes even in normoxia conditions. This phenomenon is called aerobic glycolysis or "the Warburg effect." Aerobic glycolysis is inefficient to generate ATP, but the advantages it confers to cancer cells remain to be fully explained. Several oncogenic signaling pathways, interplaying with enzymes and kinases involved in glucose metabolism, participate in the switch from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to aerobic glycolysis. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are a family of functional RNA molecules that are not further translated into proteins, which exert regulatatory roles in gene transcription and translation. ncRNAs, especially miRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), may also have great effect on glucose metabolism by targeting not only glycolysis enzymes directly but also oncogenic signaling pathways indirectly. A better understanding of the Warburg effect and the regulatory role of ncRNAs in cancer glucose metabolism may contribute to the treatment of cancers.