Abstract
Summary
(1) A compound frequently noted in a chromatographic study of urinary amino acids has now been isolated from the urines of two cancer patients and identified as beta-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIB). (2) In a group of 140 apparently healthy subjects, 52 individuals showed detectable urinary levels of BAIB (>0.15 millimole per liter), and three of these showed concentrations over 1 millimole per liter. Individual control subjects studied at intervals for periods up to 21/2 years showed little fluctuation in BAIB excretion. (3) In individual patients with neoplastic disease, the urinary BAIB level occasionally varied markedly and appeared to bear some relationship to the neoplastic process. Such variations are illustrated by a report of a case of chronic myelogenous leukemia. (4) Theoretical considerations pointed to a 5-methylpyrimidine as a likely precursor of BAIB, and evidence favoring this view was obtained by rat experiments in which BAIB excretion was produced by a diet containing large amounts of desoxyribonucleic acid but not by one similarly enriched in ribonucleic acid.
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