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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Biochem Sci. 2008 Jul 4;33(8):359–362. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2008.05.006

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Causes and potential benefits to cancerous cells of aerobic glycolysis. Factors that can promote increased glycolysis include: (i) hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment, which can lead to the upregulation of glycolytic genes; (ii) oncogene activation, which promotes glucose uptake and the generation of pTyr motifs; and (iii) pTyr-mediated PKM2 inhibition, which seems to shift pyruvate away from oxidative phosphorylation and toward lactate production through as yet unexplained mechanisms. This metabolic program might prove beneficial for tumor development by supporting cell growth and survival, especially in hypoxic environments, and by increasing cellular building blocks available for macromolecular biosynthesis.