As determined by reversed-phase liquid-solid extraction, concentration of total phosphatidylcholines in the serum of 53 patients with mammary cancer was significantly (P<0.003) increased to 2.24 +/- 0.59 mg/ml when compared with the normal value of 1.86 +/- 0.36 mg/ml. In 31 fractions of their individual molecular species separated by high-performance liquid chromatography there was a shift to compounds composed of longer fatty acids that were significantly more abundant than in normal serum. The concentration of fractions containing stearic, oleic, linoleic, eicosatrienoic, arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acid as well as traces of C17 acids was 2-5 fold enhanced. On the other hand, molecular species containing palmitic acid combined with palmitoleic, oleic linoleic, arachidonic and further poly-unsaturated fatty acids are considerably decreased in cancer serum. All these atypical phosphatidylcholines are apparently specific products of tumor cells and are released into the blood stream. The possibility of using these alterations of phospholipid metabolism for the follow-up of cancer patients is further investigated.

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