Cancer Research Foundation

Tour de France champ seeks to change cancer research

As Tadej’s personal coach and Head of Performance for team UAE, Doctor Inigo San Millan is responsible for the physiological fine-tuning of the team’s riders. For over a decade, he has also been researching therapies against cancer at the Colorado Springs University. During this time, he came across an interesting finding in the mode of action of the mitochondria – the cell components that are responsible for generating energy and responsible for aerobic respiration. Mitochondria produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the tiny molecule that is the universal energy carrier in the human body. Dr. San-Millan observed that in endurance athletes, their mitochondria is working perfectly, while in patients with tumors mitochondria are malfunctioning and using an inefficient or primitive way to produce energy, known as the Warburg effect.

Cancer’s abnormal cell metabolism

The insights of studying Tadej’s and other people’s metabolisms at the cellular level and comparing perfectly and imperfectly functioning mitochondria is promising for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that specifically target cancer cell metabolism. Directing and supporting cancer research towards new and groundbreaking studies in the field of cancer metabolism is the main goal of the foundation founded by Tadej and is the main goal of the foundation founded by Tadej and Dr. San-Millán.

For Further Reading:

Reexamining cancer metabolism: lactate production for carcinogenesis could be the purpose and explanation of the Warburg Effect
Iñigo San-Millán, George A. Brooks, Carcinogenesis, Volume 38, Issue 2, February 1, 2017, pp. 119–133

Metabolomics of Endurance Capacity in World Tour Professional Cyclists
Iñigo San-Millán1,2,3*, Davide Stefanoni4, Janel L. Martinez2, Kirk C. Hansen4, Angelo D’Alessandro4 and Travis Nemkov4*

Metabolomics: The Science Behind a Tour de France Winner
CU research team’s platform measures how the body adapts during competition; has implications for treatments of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s