Figure 13.

Schematic view of potential impact of suramin on glycolytic complexes. There are several lines of evidence that suramin is a promiscuous binder, and multiple diverse low-affinity targets have been described. It is possible that suramin binding disrupts glycolytic protein complexes even at low concentration through conformational impact (A). Due to rapid accumulation of suramin by endocytic uptake, higher concentrations could be reached, potentially resulting in complete inhibition of single (B) or multiple protein targets (C) within a complex. All of these scenarios would ultimately lead to a decrease in glycolytic flux and hence ATP production.