Lactate metabolism in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Abstract The possible effect of tumor glycolysis on whole-body lactate metabolism has not been previously measured in humans. Using an isotope tracer technique, we found increased rates of lactate production in 20 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer compared to 13 control subjects of comparable age and sex (15.6 ± 1.3 µmol/kg/min versus 10.4 ± 0.6 µmol/kg/min; p