Aryl-hydrocarbon-hydroxylase inducibility in patients with cancer.

Aryl-hydrocarbon-hydroxylase (A.H.H.) inducibility has been studied in the peripheral-blood lymphocytes of patients with squamous-cell lung cancer, of patients with cancer at other sites, and of controls matched for age, sex, social class, and smoking habits. The proportion of high inducers was significantly greater among patients with lung cancer (but not patients with other cancers) than among controls, which suggests that, besides smoking, a constitutional factor may be involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.