Cited by 4,416Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismCancer and biochemical researchMetabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer

The metabolism of tumors in the body

Open access
Warburg, Otto, Wind, Franz, Negelein, Erwin·1927·Journal of General Physiology

Abstract

In this contribution we discuss the question of whether tumor cells in living animals can be killed off through lack of energy, and the related question of how the tumors are supplied with oxygen and glucose in the body.We assume it is understood that tumor cells obtain the energy required for their existence in two ways: by respiration and by fermentation.In respiration they burn organic materials to carbon dioxide and water; in fermentation they split glucose to lactic acid.All tumors so far tested behave fundamentally alike.There is no essential difference between the cancer cells of transplanted rat tumors and spontaneous tumors, sarcoma and carcinoma cells, and the tar carcinoma, and Rous sarcoma produced by filtrate.The fermentation of tumors was first found with cut pieces of tumor in vitro.I C. and G. Cori 2 demonstrated it in living animals as well.They determined the glucose and lactic acid in the axillary veins of hens having in one wing a Rous sarcoma, and found in 100 cc. of blood 23 mg.less glucose and 16 rag.more lactic acid on the tumor side than on the normal side.A corresponding experiment with a human fore-arm tumor showed in 100 cc. of blood 12 rag.less glucose and 9 rag.more lactic acid on the tumor side.In experiments on the nourishment of tumors through the blood stream, we, like Cori, determined the glucose and lactic acid in tumor veins.Our procedure differed from Cori's in that we compared tumor veins and arteries, not tumor veins and corresponding normal veins.Our differences were greater than Cori's because we went closer to 1

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1085/jgp.8.6.519

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The Warburg effect is the reliance of cancer cells on aerobic glycolysis even under normoxia.

    “The Warburg effect, commonly observed characteristic of many cancer types, is identified as the reliance of cancer cells on aerobic glycolysis even under normoxia.”
  • The Warburg effect leads to diversion of glucose to lactate, creating low pH conditions that modulate TME.

    “This leads to diversion of glucose to lactate thereby creating low pH conditions which modulates TME (Warburg et al., 1927; Gatenby et al., 2006; Salimian Rizi et al., 2015).”
  • Markedly increased glucose consumption by tumors compared to non-proliferating normal tissues was first described by Warburg.

    “A markedly increased consumption of glucose by tumors in comparison to the non-proliferating normal tissues was first described more than 90 years ago by the German physiologist Otto Warburg”

    From The emerging hallmarks of cancer metabolism (2016) · cites this paper as Warburg et al., 1927

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Warburg, O., Wind, F., & Negelein, E.
Affiliations
From the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Biologie, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany.
Venue
Journal of General Physiology
Published
1927-03-07
Volume
8
Issue
6
Pages
519-530
ISSN
  • 0022-1295 (ISSN-L)
  • 1540-7748
OpenAlex
W2102322990
Cited by
4,416
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 218 · 2025: 343 · 2024: 401 · 2023: 394 · 2022: 406 · 2021: 431 · 2020: 388 · 2019: 324 · 2018: 272 · 2017: 229 · 2016: 224 · 2015: 157 · 2014: 170 · 2013: 128 · 2012: 103
FWCI
0.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Journal of General Physiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cancer and biochemical research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
Keywords
cancer metabolism, tumor respiration, glucose metabolism, lactic acid, tumor oxygenation, tumor blood supply, Rous sarcoma, sarcoma, carcinoma, transplantable tumors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review