[Inhibitory effect of micronutrients and BHA on lung cancer induced in rats].

The combined effect of Vit. A and E, selenium, cysteine and BHA on 3MC-induced lung cancer in Wistar rats was investigated. The supplementation of these compounds at their safe doses reduced the incidence of lung cancer from 47.2% to 31.6% (P less than 0.05). The total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Mn-SOD activities in the lung cancer tissue were much lower than those in the normal tissue (P less than 0.001). It is possible that in the early stage of carcinogenesis, this change occurs only in the limited focus and does not affect the enzyme level as a whole, so SOD assay of peripheral blood can not reflect the carcinogenesis status in the lung.