Fig. 3
From: Regulators of glucose uptake in thyroid cancer cell lines
Metabolic differences between normal and TC cells. Normal cells primarily metabolize glucose to pyruvate for growth and survival, followed by complete oxidation of pyruvate to CO2 through the tricarboxylic acid cycle. TC cells convert most glucose to lactate, regardless of the availability of O2, through the overexpression of some special glucose metabolism-related proteins, including GLUT1, HK2, MCT1, and MCT4, which divert glucose metabolites from energy production to anabolic process to accelerate cell proliferation, migration and invasion. miR-125a-5p inhibits the synergistic effect of CD147 on lactate transporters (MCT1/MCT4) and reduces the viability, migration, and invasion of thyroid cancer cells, which were increased by aerobic glycolysis