Isaac Marin-Valencia1, Steve K. Cho2,
Levi B. Good2, Michael Long3, Xiankai Sun3,
Juan M. Pascual2,4, Mark Jeffrey3, Elizabeth A. Maher5,
Craig R. Malloy3,5, Robert M. Bachoo2, Ralph J.
DeBerardinis1
1Pediatrics, UT
Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 2Neurology,
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 3Radiology,
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 4Physiology,
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 5Internal
Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States
In vitro studies in tumor cells demonstrate that anaerobic glycolysis is active and oxidative pathways in the mitochondria are suppressed. We used a novel mouse model of glioblastoma to characterize glucose metabolism in the tumor and surrounding brain in vivo by 13C-NMR. The 13C spectra were similar between both tissues, showing an active CAC and differing only by an increased glutamine:glutamate ratio within the gliomas. The data reveal that tumor metabolism is more complex than classical models suggest, and that novel targets for therapy may be exposed by probing tumor metabolism with stable isotopes.