Maintaining proton homeostasis is an essential role of the Warburg effect in proliferating cells

摘要

Non-proliferating cells efficiently generate adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) through mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation.By contrast, proliferating cells, including cancer cells, tend to rely on aerobic glycolysis, an inefficient way to generate energy, and this phenomenon is termed 'the Warburg effect'1,2.However, the advantage of the Warburg effect provided for proliferating cells has been unclear3.Here we propose that aerobic glycolysis may maintain proton homeostasis to benefit proliferating cells.