Phosphorylated intermediates in tumor glycolysis; analysis of tumors.

Warburg (8) and Cori (2) and their coworkers established that the rate of glycolysis is high in tumors. I t was apparent from their data that a considerable part of the energy supply of tumors is obtained through this glycolysis and that tumors are capable, unlike other tissues, of survival under anerobic conditions by means of energy derived from glycolysis. There has been considerable controversy as to whether this glycolysis of tumor tissue was a phosphorylative or non-phosphorylative type. The controversy has been reviewed by Dorfman (3). He concluded that, while available data can all be reasonably explained on the basis of a phosphorylative glycolysis and the enzymes necessary all appear to be present in tumors, the question of what type of glycolysis is operative in tumors has not been conclusively settled. Analyses of differentiated tissues, by means of an in situ freezing technic, established a pattern for the levels of intermediates of the EmbdenMeyerhof phosphorylative glycolysis system known to play a part in the metabolism of muscle and other of these tissues (5). I t is the object of this paper to present the results of applying such analytical technic to the study of phosphorylated and related intermediates in tumor tissue. Some effort in this direction has been made previously. Warburg (8) cut out the center portions of rat tumors and analyzed for lactic acid in the fluid collecting there. Cori (2) analyzed for lactic acid in the ingoing and outgoing blood supply of tumors. Lohmann (7) included Jensen sarcoma in a report on analyses for pyrophosphate prosphorus in various tissues. Franks (4) and Boyland (1) have demonstrated the presence of phosphocreatine and adeno-