Metabolic substrate utilization by a tumour cell line which induces cachexia in vivo

The MAC 16 is a transplantable murine carcinoma of the colon producing extensive weight loss in tumour-bearing animals. The weight loss is proportional to the size of the tumour and occurs without a reduction in food intake when compared with non tumour-bearing control mice. Weight loss produced by the MAC 16 tumour is accompanied by hypoglycaemia which becomes more extensive as the tumour mass increases. In order to understand the mechanism of the cachexia produced by the MAC 16 tumour the rate of substrate utilization and CO2 formation from both glucose and palmitate has been compared in vitro, with other colon carcinoma cell lines known not to produce cachexia as well as a range of murine and human tumour cell lines. The rate of glucose consumption, lactate production and CO2 formation from both glucose and palmitate is much higher for the MAC 16 than for the other tumour cells. For all cell lines in vitro the consumption of glucose exceeds that of palmitate by a factor of 10(3). Excessive consumption of glucose by the MAC 16 tumour may account for the hypoglycaemic effect on the host. The level of 3 oxo acid CoA transferase, an initiator of ketone body utilization, was found to be much lower in the MAC 16 tumour than non-involved colon. This suggests that the tumour may not be able to metabolize ketone bodies effectively.