Abstract
Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme activity (SACE) and serum lysozyme activity (SLZM) were measurd in 43 and in 34 cases of lung cancer, respectively. The activity of the former was 22.2±8.0nmol/ml/min 37°C and that of the latter was 19.9±6.6mcg/ml; the former being lower and the latter higher than respective control (p<0.01). According to statistical analysis, these enzymes were considered to be independently related to lung cancer (r=0.149).
34 patients were categorized into 4 groups by analyzing SACE-SLZM values with the cluster-alanysis method; 31 patients in one group (LC-G), one patient each in the remaining groups.
Three of 19 patients in whom these enzymes were measured more than twice showed significant decrease with deterioration of physical state! Since recent studies have shown that SACE and SLZM may be markers of the dynamics of activated monocyte-macrophages series and proliferating T-lymphocytes series, our results suggest that SACE-SLZM maybe useful for evaluation of the dynamics of cell populations and host resistance.
