Melanoma exhibits heterogeneous growth patterns and widely varying sensitivities to multiple treatment modalities. This variability may reflect intrinsic genetic differences in factors giving rise to altered metabolism. Glucose is the primary energy source of tumours, including melanoma, and glucose transporter isoform 1 (Glut-1) and hexokinase are key rate-limiting factors in glucose metabolism. The levels of Glut-1 and total hexokinase activity were measured in 31 melanoma biopsies to determine the extent of tumour-to-tumour variability in these parameters. Relative Glut-1 levels were determined by Western immunoblot analysis using human anti-Glut-1 rabbit polyclonal antibody, and hexokinase activity was measured in the same samples by an enzymatic assay monitoring the reduction in the oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+) (in nmol NADP+ reduced/min per mg protein). All melanomas were from patients who had received no therapy prior to surgery. Immediately after excision, tumour biopsies were disaggregated to single cells by collagenase and DNase and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Thirty human melanomas exhibited a 22-fold variation in levels of Glut-1 and 29 exhibited a nine-fold variation in total cellular hexokinase activity. Glut-1 levels and hexokinase activity were not correlated with one another. The broad range in Glut-1 levels and hexokinase activity observed between melanomas suggests that these glycolytic rate-limiting parameters that influence the rate of glucose metabolism may contribute to the variability in melanoma response to treatment modalities.

As an in vitro model for the low extracellular pH (pHe) which has frequently been observed in tumors, cell lines have been grown in a low-pH medium in order to allow cell adaptation to that milieu. Two Chinese hamster cell lines [Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and Chinese hamster ovarian carcinoma (OvCa)] were compared, both of which acquired thermotolerance during 42 degrees C heating in pHe = 7.3 buffer, but not in pHe = 6.7 medium unless grown at that pH long enough to become adapted. CHO cells, even when acutely acidified, showed higher intracellular pH (pHi) values in a suspension assay than OvCa cells, which confirmed the danger of comparing absolute values of pHi between cell lines. Despite this fundamental difference, relative changes in pHi were similar in that both lines showed a higher pHi in adapted than in unadapted cells, over the range of pHe values tested. The upregulation of pHi was statistically significant, but the two lines differed in the time frame over which adaptation occurred. OvCa cells acquired an enhanced ability to develop tolerance to 42 degrees heat at pHe = 6.7 in 4 days, but the CHO cells acquired this ability more progressively, achieving a maximum ability at approximately 100 days. In contrast, both lines were able to upregulate their pHi within 4 hours of being exposed to pH 6.7 medium. A further indication of different biochemical mechanisms at work was the opposite effects seen on pHi in the two cell lines upon the removal of extracellular CO2/HCO3-. The differential between adapted and unadapted OvCa cells was enhanced by removal of bicarbonate, whereas CHO cells seemed less stable and the data with greater scatter failed to show any difference between adapted and unadapted cells.

Carboxy-SNARF-1 is an emission-changing, pH-sensitive probe for measurements of intracellular pH. However, the protonated and deprotonated forms of the dye interact differently with intracellular constituents, and this imposes new requirements on the calibration of the system. Whole spectra of intracellular and extracellular C.SNARF-1 were analyzed and showed (1) intracellular quenching which was significantly greater for the deprotonated form of the dye than for the protonated state and (2) a detectable change in pK a. Importantly for avoiding damage to cells, this mathematical analysis allowed reference spectra for fully protonated and fully deprotonated dye to be obtained without a need for spectra measured at extreme values of pH. It is not known what constituent(s) of the intracellular milieu might be responsible for the changes in dye behavior in the cell. To address this question, preliminary experiments with cell-free buffers compared the pattern seen inside the cell with quenching by a protein (bovine serum albumin; BSA) or that due to ethanol. The BSA result was completely unlike the intracellular case in that the protonated form of the dye was quenched. Buffer containing ethanol, on the other hand, was able to mimic the essential features of the intracellular spectra.

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