Activities of various enzymes of pyrimidine nucleotide and DNA syntheses in normal and neoplastic human tissues.

The activities of the key enzymes of pyrimidine nucleotide and DNA syntheses in 43 human tumors and 28 normal human tissues were investigated. The activities of cytidine triphosphate synthetase, deoxycytidine monophosphate deaminase, uridine kinase, thymidine kinase, thymidine monophosphate kinase and DNA polymerase were markedly increased in tumor tissues, compared with those in the corresponding normal tissues, while the activities of deoxycytidine kinase, cytidine deaminase and deoxycytidine deaminase were only slightly increased. The use of thymidine and deoxyuridine as substrates of human pyrimidine nucleoside phosphorylase gave 1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher activity than that of uridine.