The lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and its isozyme pattern was determined in the serum, liver and cancer tissue of rats with experimental metastatic cancer of the liver produced by transplantation of ascites hepatoma AH66F into the spleen and in patients with metastatic cancer of the liver. The following results were obtained.
1) The LDH activity in the serum of rats with AH66F metastatic cancer of the liver increased significantly as compared with the control. The same result was obtained in the serum of the patients with metastatic cancer of the liver.
2) In LDH isozymes in the serum, LDH-4 was found to have increased with progression of liver metastasis in the rats with AH66F metastatic cancer of the liver.
3) The LDH activity of cancer tissue in rats with AH66F metastatic cancer of the liver decreased as compared to the control liver tissue. The same result was also obtained in the cancer tissue of patients with metastatic cancer of the liver. The LDH isozyme pattern of non-cancerous tissue in rats with AH66F metastatic cancer of the liver also had a tendency to be similar to that of the cancer tissue.
4) In LDH isozymes in the serum, LDH-4 and LDH-5, especially LDH-4 was found to have increased in patients with metastatic cancer of the liver, and the cases with LDH-4> LDH-5 were observed in 73% of the patients with metastatic cancer of the liver.
5) Therefore, the determination of LDH activity and its isozyme pattern in the serum is thought to be useful in the diagnosis of metastatic cancer of the liver.
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