Increased mucosal orinithine decarboxylase activity in carcinoma-bearing large bowel and its inhibition by indomethacin.

概要

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Polyamine synthetase ornithine decarboxylase known to involve in tumor promotion was examined in the normal-appearing mucosas of surgically resected large bowel specimens from 67 patients with large bowel cancer and from 6 control patients with cancer in the other organs. The levels of the enzyme activity of multiple tumor cases with carcinoma(s) and adenoma(s) were significantly higher than those of solitary tumor cases with carcinoma alone, and the both cases showed significantly increased enzyme activity compared with the control cases. This significance was demonstrated more distinctly in the left-sided large bowel cancer cases. It appeared to the larger the number of tumors the greater the enzyme activity. The results suggest that the large bowel developing carcinoma, particularly multiple tumors, has been exposed to the large amount of tumor promoting substances or has been susceptible to such substances. Thus, the mucosal ornithine decarboxylase may be a good biological marker to detect the individuals at high risk for large bowel cancer. Pre-operative treatment with prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor indomethacin resulted in a marked reduction of the enzyme activity. It suggests that this agent might have an anti-promoting effect in the large bowel in man as demonstrated in animal experiment.