Similarities and Differences Between Cancer and Yeast Carbohydrate Metabolism

Abstract

At first glance, there is a high degree of similarity between the metabolisms of human cancer and yeast. Tumors consume larger amounts of glucose compared to normal tissues with most being converted into lactate and excreted, despite the abundant oxygen (Warburg effect). Similarly, yeast cells growing at high specific growth rates accumulate ethanol under aerobic conditions (Crabtree effect). However, advances in our knowledge during the last decade, particularly regarding cancer metabolism, have revealed some details that suggest differences between carbohydrate metabolisms in these two cell types. Although primary metabolism is fairly conservative between all living organisms, some differences have arisen through the course of evolution between the yeast and human cancer cells that were mostly impelled by the different environments these cells proliferate. In this chapter, the most important similarities and differences between cancer and yeast metabolism are outlined and discussed. Despite these differences, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is still a useful model for understanding many aspects of the cancer primary metabolism.