Arturo Solis Herrera

By Arturo Solis Herrera

Chromosomal instability is poorly defined and used inconsistently and imprecisely. It is the increased propensity to chromosome aberrations due to chromosome replication, repair, or segregation. Therefore, acquired genetic changes are central to leukemia development. Fast-growing cells require substantive amount of energy; however, tumor cells take up more glucose, processing it through aerobic glycolysis producing large lactate amounts with lower use of oxidative phosphorylation to generate ATP. The Warburg effect is characterized by reduced use of tricarboxylic acid cycle, so pyruvate made in glycolysis is converted into lactate and expelled, but this metabolic pathway is energetically inefficient. When genes are malfunctioning, both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes influence negatively the switch between aerobic glycolysis and extensive use of TCA cycle to generate ATP, as the normal gene replication and expression require adequate energy levels. Chromosomal instability is increasingly entangled and unnecessarily complex. So far, researchers focused solely on studying the mass and have forgotten the energy. The intrinsic property of melanin to transform light into chemical energy, through water dissociation, as chlorophyll in plants, opens a new landscape in chromosome biology, highlighting the role of the environment toxics in leukemia pathogenesis, inhalation being the dominant pathway of exposure.

Part of the book: Germ Line Mutations Associated Leukemia

By Arturo Solis Herrera

In the study of chromosomal abnormalities, in genetics, and in medicine in general, attention is rarely paid to the role of energy in the healthy subject and in the sick patient. The research on the chromosomal anomalies that are constantly published, does not mention the energy necessary for the biochemical processes involved in the function, replication and formation of genes, to be carried out in an adequate way. It seems that it is assumed that energy levels are always fine or at least did not have a significant role in the conditions associated with what we call chromosomal anomalies. A characteristic of the cell nucleus that has gone unnoticed is that it contains neither mitochondria nor ATP, much less glucose. Perhaps because of this, some researchers and clinicians come to think that the nucleus of cells does not require energy. The purpose of this work is to draw attention to the importance of energy levels in all the metabolic processes of the cell; and to make known that glucose is not an energy source, as it is only a source of carbon chains; and finally remark that our body, through melanin, can take energy directly from light.

Part of the book: Chromosomal Abnormalities

By Arturo Solís Herrera, Ruth I. Solís Arias and Luis F. Torres Solís

Melanin is one of the most stable substances known. The study of the ink bags of fossilized squid that died 160 million years ago has found it in good condition. Its extraordinary stability is what had prevented, to date; assign a relevant role in biology. Sir Everard Holmes’ proposal in London; in the eighteenth century, about the role of melanin as a simple sunscreen, it has permeated to this day, especially among dermatologists. Despite the unique physical–chemical qualities of melanin, its biological role as a simple sunscreen that protects us from the dangerous UV rays remained immutable. Our circumstantial discovery during an observational study that lasted 12 years (1990–2002) and which included the ophthalmologic studies of 6000 patients, about the relationship between the vessels of the optic nerve and the three main causes of blindness (Macular degeneration, diabetes, and glaucoma) allowed us to discern the unexpected and surprising true role of melanin in Biology as an energy transducer. The unsuspected intrinsic property of melanin to transform light into chemical energy through water dissociation, like chlorophyll in plants; opens a new era in Biology and therefore in Medicine. And Acute Leukemias are no exception.

Part of the book: Acute Leukemias