Biochemical differences between human malignant and benign insulinoma tissues.

Five cases of malignant insulinoma and 2 cases of benign insulinoma were studied lipid-chemically. Tissues were collected by surgical operation or biopsy under peritoneoscopy. The total lipid was extracted from each tissue, and one part of each total lipid was separated into phospholipid, triglyceride and other lipid fractions by a thin-layer chromatography (TLC) on silica gel. The fatty acid composition and fatty acid content of each lipid fraction were measured by a gas-liquid chromatography (GLC). The most remarkable difference between malignant and benign isulinoma tissues was a higher percentage value of eicosatrienoic acid in the phospholipid of malignant insulinoma tissues when compared with that of non-malignant insulinoma tissues; the values mentioned above distributed between 9.82 and 3.32 in 5 malignant cases, but were 2.89 and 2.57 in 2 benign cases. Those changes in the phospholipid fatty acid composition of malignant insulinoma tissues may represent one of the mechanisms of malignant growth in the malignant neoplastic tissue.