The concentration of glucose in the culture medium determines the effect of suramin on the growth and differentiation of the human colonic adenocarcinoma cell clone HT29-D4.

Suramin, a drug currently used for advanced malignancy, induces the differentiation of the human colonic adenocarcinoma cell clone HT29-D4 and this process is correlated with a decreased glycolytic activity. We investigated the effects of suramin on HT29-D4 cells in the presence of various glucose concentrations. The main result of this study is that suramin has only an effect on HT29-D4 cell growth and differentiation when the concentration of glucose is above 10 mM. Therefore the efficiency of suramin as an anticancer drug may be greater on poorly differentiated tumoral cells with a high proliferative capacity.