Acetylator phenotype in patients with breast cancer.

Acetylator phenotype was established by the method of Evans in 41 patients with breast cancer and 38 female controls. The results showed that the group of patients with advanced breast cancer included relatively more "rapid" --acetylating females (68% of "rapid and 32% of "slow" acetylators) as compared with controls (37% of "rapid" and 63% of "slow" acetylators). Moreover, the level of acetylating in both "rapid" and "slow" acetylating breast cancer patients were found to be higher than in corresponding groups of controls. A possible association between changes in the activity of acetylation in breast cancer patients and the genetic regulation processes in tumor growth is discussed.