In pre-neoplastic lesions AMPK may act as a tumor suppressor, limiting cell growth and the switch from oxidative metabolism to the Warburg effect, and thus preventing conversion to full-blown tumors: in this case, the pre-neoplastic cells will be under strong selective pressure to down-regulate the LKB1-AMPK pathway, explaining the observed inactivation of LKB1 in a significant proportion of tumors. Here, STK11 is linked to neoplasm.