The effects of 2-deoxyglucose on the growth and metabolism of cultured human cells.

The glucose analogue, 2-deoxy-n-glucose, has been found to inhibit glycolysis and the growth of yeast (1, 2) and various animal tissues (3-7). It is phosphorylated by hexokinase (8), but is not believed to be further metabolized. Wick et al. (9) have reported that deoxyglucose B-phosphate competitively inhibits the conversion of glucose 6-phosphate to fructose 6-phosphate by a purified phosphohexose isomerase from kidney. Recently Kipnis and Cori (10) have presented evidence that deoxyglucose 6-phosphate noncompetitively blocks the transport of glucose. It has also been suggested that the phosphate inhibits glycolysis at the hexokinase level (9). The experiments described in this paper show that deoxyglucose inhibits the growth of human cell cultures by inhibiting the utilization of glucose. They also indicate the sites of inhibition of glucose utilization in the glycolytic and oxidative pathways. The implications of these findings on the possible mode of action of deoxyglucose are discussed.