Once considered the cause of cancer, a tiny organelle known as
the “powerhouse of the cell” may soon spawn a new treatment. In
1955, Otto Warburg, recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize for
Medicine or Physiology, attributed cancer to damage to the
mitochondria, tiny structures within each cell that are involved
in energy production, the manufacture of ATP. Because of
irreversible damage to the mitochondria, he argued, tumor cells
shifted from respiration to fermentation, a much less efficient
method for producing ATP. “What was formerly only qualitative
has now become quantitative,” Warburg said during a Stuttgart
lecture reprinted by Science. “What was formerly only probable
has now become certain. The era in which the fermentation of
cancer cells or its importance could be disputed is over, and no
one today can doubt that we understand the origin of cancer
cells if we know how their large fermentation originates.” With
those confident words, Warberg hoped to put an end to disputes
about the many potential cause