346 On Respiratory Impairment in Cancer Cells 



Many years before the respiratory enzymes and the fermentation enzymes of 

 oxidation-reduction were discovered at Dahlem, we reached the conclusion that 

 the biochemical mechanism of fermentation and respiration in Cancer cells is 

 qualitatively the same as in normal cells, the differences being only quantitative, 

 the one process being increased and the other decreased. Although later investi- 

 gators have confirmed this general conclusion, Weinhouse takes exception to the 

 phraseology "damaged respiration" of Cancer cells. But because the facts are so 

 clear and well defined, our abridged expression should not be objectionable. We 

 have here a perfect example of a dispute about words. 



It is something deeper when Weinhouse dislikes the Statement that the shifting 

 of the energy production from the areobic to the anaerobic State is the cause of 

 Cancer. He feels that this is far too simple : How can Cancer, as mysterious as life 

 itself, be explained by such a simple physicochemical principle ? 



Yet this feeling is not justified. The problem of Cancer is not to explain life, 

 but to discover the differences between Cancer cells and normal growing cells. 

 Fortunately this can be done without knowing what life really is. Imagine two 

 engines, the one being driven by complete and the other by incomplete com- 

 bustion of coal. A man who knows nothing at all about engines, their structure, 

 and their purpose, may discover the difference. He may, for example, smell it. 



References 



1 Warburg, O., Metabolism of Tumors translated by 3 Weinhouse, S., in Advances in Cancer Research 3 

 F. Dickens (Constable, London, 1930). (1955), 269; Science, this issue. 



2 Warburg, O., Science 123 (1956), 309. 



