[Phenotypic changes in acetylation in tumor patients].

The authors have determined the activity of N-acetyltransferase and the type of acetylation in patients with cancer of the lung (38) and gastrointestinal tract (39), and in 72 control individuals. It was found that there is a changed distribution of patients in relation to the activity of acetylation in maintaining the normal correlation of "slow" and "fast" acetylators. There was noted an increase in N-acetyltransferase activity with greater spread of the tumor process, whereas the activity decreased in radical operations and increased in palliative surgical procedures and in the presence of recurrences or metastases.