Eli5: Since Mitochondria play an important role in cancer through macromolecular synthesis and energy production, why are we not targeting those energy path ways to exhaust cancer?

Question

Eli5: Since Mitochondria play an important role in cancer through macromolecular synthesis and energy production, why are we not targeting those energy path ways to exhaust cancer?

In: 3

Answer 1

There’s the warburg effect, in which cancer cells are more dependent on burning glucose than on burning fat.

There is some research that looks at dietary modification to reduce available carbohydrate and therefore reduce the supply of glucose.

Note that cancer is not one disease but many diseases and this effect is not present in all of them.