Multiplexed Single-Cell Measurements of FDG Uptake and Lactate Release Using Droplet Microfluidics.

These results confirm that cancer cells rely on multiple metabolic pathways in addition to aerobic glycolysis and that the use of these pathways is highly heterogeneous, even under controlled culture conditions. Clinically, the large cell-to-cell variability suggests that positron emission tomography measurements of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake represent metabolic flux only in an aggregate sense, not for individual cancer cells within the tumor.