Phospholipids and fatty acids in breast cancer tissue.

The fatty acid composition of fractionated phospholipids and neutral lipids was analyzed in human breast cancer tissues and the surrounding, apparently healthy tissue. In the cancer tissues the relative amounts of unsaturated fatty acids were increased in all the phospholipid subclasses analyzed. The differences were more marked in phosphatidylethanolamine than in the other phospholipid fractions and, furthermore, the relative amount of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine was increased in cancerous tissue. In blood-erythrocyte phospholipids, no differences in fatty acid composition could be found between breast cancer and control patients. The present study suggests that the lipid composition of cancerous breast tissues differs from that of the surrounding tissue and may be involved in carcinogenesis.