Warburg effect
nounEtymology Named after Otto Heinrich Warburg who first published the observation.
1
Medicine, Oncology, Sciences The observation that most cancer cells release energy predominantly not through the 'usual' citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria as observed in normal cells, but through a less efficient process of 'anaerobic glycolysis' consisting of a high level of glucose uptake and glycolysis followed by lactic acid fermentation taking place in the cytosol, not the mitochondria, even in the presence of abundant oxygen.