A “Weird” Mitochondrial Fatty Acid Oxidation as a Metabolic “Secret” of Cancer

Figure 8

Possible consequences of the overactivated β-oxidation in mitochondria: high Q10H₂/Q10 ratio and accumulation of acetyl-CoA and succinate. This could lead to high levels of NADH and acetyl-CoA that inhibit the Krebs cycle, PDH, and complex I of the mitochondrial ETC. The green arrows indicated the accumulated metabolites. The red blunt ends indicate the inhibition of a particular enzyme. a-KG: a-ketoglutarate; OAA: oxaloacetate; Q: coenzyme Q10 (oxidized form); QH₂: coenzyme Q10 (reduced form); PDH: pyruvate dehydrogenase; PC: pyruvate carboxylase; Succ: succinate; Succ-CoA: succinyl-CoA; TFP: trifunctional protein; VLCDH: very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase.