Fig. 4

Lactate is used as oxidative fuel in PDAC cells. a Schematic representation of the performed Seahorse assay. Cells were cultivated in “basal” medium (no glucose, no glutamine) or in “basal” medium supplemented with 10 mM sodium-L-lactate (“basal + lactate”) for 7 h in total, and OCR levels are measured. Ratios among OCR values measured for “basal + lactate” and “basal” only media are calculated and presented. Ratio above 1 (dotted line) indicates increase in OCR after lactate application. Presented are mean ratios + SD values of minimum 2 independent experiments, at least 3 technical replicates per cell line/per condition/per experiment. P-values calculated by the Mann–Whitney test. b Dose–response curves of cell lines and PDCs to LDH inhibitor GNE-140. Presented are mean dose–response curves and IC50 values of two independent experiments; 3 technical replicates per concentration/cell line/experiment were performed. Stronger response observed in QM than in classical cell lines. No differences in response rate among QM and classical PDCs