Growth and treatment of Ehrlich tumor in mice with alloxan-induced diabetes.

Hypoglycemia and hypoinsulinemia accompanied i.p. or i.m. growth of the Ehrlich tumor in CBA/H and BALB/c mice. Simultaneously, insulin accumulated in the ascitic fluid of tumor-bearing mice. In hosts rendered diabetic by means of alloxan, the tumor decreased the blood glucose almost to the level seen in nondiabetic mice. Tumor growth was retarded in diabetic hosts, but cells from such tumors, transplanted into secondary diabetic recipients, grew faster than in their primary diabetic hosts, similarly to "nondiabetic" tumor cells growing in nondiabetic hosts. This phenomenon of "adaptation" of the tumor to the diabetic state was prevented if diabetic tumor-bearing mice were daily treated with insulin. The tumor did not grow in all diabetic recipients; the frequency of takes correlated with severity of the diabetes, i.e., with the dose of alloxan given to induce it. The greater the dose, the less mice accepted the tumor. Insulin injection into diabetic tumor-bearing mice promoted the tumor growth. Simultaneous treatment of diabetes and the tumor afforded the best antitumor effect.