Abstract
Employing capillary gas liquid chromatography the levels of palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, cis-vaccenic, linoleic, arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids were measured in lung tissue and lung tumours from 28 patients undergoing surgery for bronchogenic carcinoma. There were significant increases in the majority of fatty acids in tumour tissue compared to normal tissue when the results were expressed in absolute units. However, when the relative changes in fatty acid concentration were studied, the most consistent findings were a significant rise in vaccenic acid and a fall in palmitic acid in tumour tissue compared to normal tissue. This change in the vaccenic: palmitic acid ratio may reflect specific changes in fatty acid metabolism in bronchogenic carcinoma tissue involving a Δ-9 desaturase.