A Non-destructive, Time-resolved, Multi-analyte Technology for Sensing Metabolic Changes in Cancer Cells

Cancer cells exhibit a unique dependence on glycolysis as a possible means to enhance their survival in a hypoxic tumor environment. We have developed a novel microplate-based instrument for profiling the metabolic changes in adherent cells in response to chemical or biological agents. Measurement of extracellular flux (XF) rates, including cellular oxygen consumption rate and extracellular acidification rate demonstrates a correlation between the metastatic potentials of cancer cell lines, and also shows the unique responses of certain cell lines to the combination of a glycolysis inhibitor and an anti-cancer drug. A near-universal property of primary and metastatic cancers is the increased require- ment for glucose and glycolysis, as Warburg observed more than 70 years ago 1, 2 . Tumors that produce large amounts of lactate have been shown to correlate with a poor clinical outcome