Suppression of Ehrlich ascites tumor growth in mice by starvation and streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

Starvation-induced hypoglycaemia and streptozotocin-induced diabetes suppressed the growth of Ehrlich ascites tumor in mice. The suppression of tumor growth by diabetes was alleviated by administration of insulin. The number of glucose carriers on tumour cells was found to be reduced in diabetes and partial resumption of glucose carriers was observed in tumour cells of diabetes after insulin administration. Insulin had no direct effect on tumour growth in vivo and did not affect the number of glucose carriers on tumour cells in vitro. The physiological significance of these observations is discussed.