Certain Metabolic and Pharmacologic Effects in Cancer Patients Given Infusions of 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose

2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) was administered to 1 patient with islet-cell carcinoma, 5 patients with leukemia, 1 patient with bronchogenic carcinoma, and 1 with renal-cell carcinoma. After a single intravenous infusion of 2-DG, the following effects were noted: 1) Blood-glucose levels rose. 2) Symptoms were diaphoresis, generalized warmth, flushing, headache, drowsiness, and tachycardia. No symptoms were severe and all of them were transient. 3) In the leukemic patients, white-blood-cell counts either fell directly, or rose and then fell during the 24-hour period following administration. 4) Glycolytic inhibition of leukemic cells occurred in some of the patients. 5) Approximately 30 percent of the administered dose was excreted in the urine; the fate of the remainder of the compound was unknown. The significance of these observations was discussed.