SERUM LIPIDS IN HUMAN CANCER

The universal hyperlipemia observed in tumor-bearing animals is infrequent in human cancer. In the absence of liver dysfunction or other lipemic-producing conditions the plasma fatty acids in humans with far-advanced cancer remain within the normal range. When the liver becomes involved by metastases the plasma fatty acids become elevated. The increasing blood levels of fatty acids that occur in patients with hepatic metastases and deranged liver function may explain the thrombotic phenomena observed clinically in some gastrointestinal carcinomas. The lipid depletion so noticeable in human cancer represents mobilization of fat from the body depots. In the animal assay utilized in this study there was no evidence of a fat-mobilizing hormone in patients with far-advanced cancer. The increased mobilization of fat is most likely secondary to the ordinary neurohumoral adipokinetic responses to the stimulus of increased energy requirements and the energy deficit created by actively synthesizing tumor tissue combined with decreased caloric intake by the host. © 1969.