Clinical Chemistry, Vol 9, 582-593, Copyright © 1963 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Protein Electrophoretic Analyses of Serum of Cancer Patients

¹ Midwest Medical Research Foundation, Wichita 8, Kans.

The mean relative proportions of a number of blood serum protein fractions assessed electrophoretically are altered in active cancer. The changes in number and degree are generally greater than in other diseases; this may be a reflection of the seriousness of the condition and the extent of tissue involvement. A relative lowering of the proportion of albumin and an increase in that of the various globulins in "active" cancer was absent or much less apparent in treated cases.

Significant changes differ according to location of the malignancy. Proportions of the -globulins were not elevated in cancer of the gastrointestinal tract nor were those of the -globulins in prostatic cancer. Within the ₂-globulins the central subfraction proportion was elevated most where tissue involvement was greatest, although in breast or prostate cancer the most pronounced alteration occurred in the proportion of the first ₂-globulin subfraction. The subfraction of -globulin increased in proportion in cancer of the gastrointestinal tract differed from that elevated in cancer of the lung. Further refinement in fractionation techniques may reveal major differences in the serum protein distribution in different neoplasms. A considerable elevation of the ₂-globulin proportion above the normal may be regarded as a sign of a poor prognosis.

Age had little significant effect with the exception of a rise in the third -globuIin subfraction proportion, which went through a maximum in the 50-59 year age group. The relative concentration of this same fraction was elevated in cardiovascular disease in hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.