PPARGC1A and cancer: PGC-1α has been reported to have both oncogenic and tumor-suppressive features: its expression is downregulated in the early stage of carcinogenesis, thereby inducing glycolysis to play an anticancer role, whereas it is upregulated in the late stage of cancer progression, contributing to the metabolic plasticity that facilitates tumor cell growth, metastasis, and drug resistance (Mastropasqua et al. 2018).