31P nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of lung cancer: the perchloric acid extract spectrum.

31P-NMR spectra were obtained from the perchloric acid extracts of normal lung and lung cancer tissues obtained at surgery, and from extracts of neoplastic cells cultured in vitro. The perchloric acid extract of lung cancer tissue gave rise to a signal whose chemical shift was 3.2 ppm at pH 8.0. This signal was not observed in the extract of normal tissue of the lung from the same patient. The compound giving this signal was identified as phosphorylcholine.