13C/12C-Untersuchungen an Tumorzellen

Abstract

The metabolism of tumor-cells differs in many ways from normal (healthy) cells. One of the major differences is the high glycolytic activity in tumor-cells with the subsequent formation of lactate from glucose, even in the presence of oxygen. The question whether this high rate of glycolysis has any effect on the ¹³C/¹²C-relation of the cells is examined in experiments with a tumor-cell line (HT29) and in specimens of human breast cancer.

The HT29 cells show a clear decrease in ¹³C content compared to their culture medium (Δδ = 3.28‰).

Tissue from human breast cancer has more ¹³C than normal breast tissue taken from the same patient ((Δδ = 2.74‰). But the content of fat is much higher in the normal tissue and its δ-value is negatively correlated with its fat content. It is concluded that the difference between normal and tumor tissue is due to the heterogeneous composition of the normal tissue samples.