Abstract
In order to investigate the metabolism of fatty acids in lung cancer patients, fatty acid composition was studied in the serum of 71 cases of lung cancer and 43 normal subjects or cases of other lung diseases, and in the autopsied lung tissue of 18 cases of lung cancer and 17 cases of cancer of other organs or other non-pulmonary diseases. The results obtained were as follows:
1. In fatty asids composition of serum, increase of C16 and C18=1, and decrease of C18=2 and C20=4 were observed in lung cancer compared with normal controls. However, no changes were seen according to age.
2. In lipid fractions of serum in lung cancer, increase of C16 and decrease of C18=2 in ChE, increase of C18=1 and decrease of C18 in FFA, and increase of C16 and decrease of C18=2 and C20=4 in PL were observed compared with normal controls.
3. In lung tissue, fatty acid composition in cancer tissue showed a decrease of C16 and an increase of C18=1 and C20=4 compared with normal tissues. The changes of C16 and C20=4 in cancer tissue were inversely proportional to those in serum.
4. In lipid fractions of lung tissue, decrease of C16 and increase of C18=1 and C20=4 in ChE, and decrease of C16 and increase of C18=1 in PL were observed in cancer tissue compared with normal tissues. The changes of C16 in ChE and PL in lung tissue were inversely proportional to those in serum.
5. Changes in C16 and C20=4 in serum were observed in subjects who had liver dysfunction, however, no changes were observed in lung tissue.
6. The effect of treatment on total lipids was observed in lung cancer, i. e., C16 and C18=2, and C18=1 tended to normlize with FEM, FT-207, 60Co and BLM+60Co, and 60Co and BLM+60Co, respectively.
