The role of glycolysis in the growth of tumor cells. II. The effect of oxamic acid on the growth of HeLa cells in tissue culture.

The finding that potassium oxamate inhibits glycolysis by ascites tumor cells in vitro, without inhibiting oxidative metabolism (I), indicated that oxamate might be applied to the study of the role of glycolysis in tumor growth in viva. If, as Warburg (2, 3) states, tumor cells derive much of their energy for survival and growth from glycolysis, then the inhibition of glycolysis in tumor-bearing animals should result in the regression of the tumors. At the same time, if normal cells do not depend on glycolysis for energy, they should not be affected by specific inhibitors of glycolysis. It therefore seemed of interest to use oxamat(e as a glycolytic inhibitor in ascites tumor-bearing mice. However, preliminary experiments showed that although potassium oxamate is a nontoxic substance in doses up to 3 g per kg, it is excreted so very rapidly that it cannot be used conveniently as an inhibitor of glycolysis in animals. It was decided, therefore, to study its effects on actively growing malignant cells in tissue culture, where the concentration of inhibitor can be readily controlled. Inasmuch as the ascites cells used previously could not be grown readily in culture, the experiments reported here were done with HeLa cells. It is the purpose of these experiments to test directly whether these cells are dependent on glycolysis for growth. A preliminary report of this work has appeared (4).