[Somatomedin activity of the blood: hormonal metabolic and immunological shifts in cancer patients].

Blood somatomedin activity observed in patients with cancer of the corpus uteri, breast, colon and rectum, pancreas, ovary and lung proved to exceed those in control by 140-300%. The said parameter was found to depend upon endocrine-metabolic changes, relatively higher levels being registered in overweight patients and those with hypertriglyceridemia. Changes of varying degree in somatomedin activity and growth hormone levels produced by insulin and glucose in patients with breast and uterine cancer pointed to hormonal dependence of the parameter. Also, the effect is a circumstantial evidence for negative feedback between growth hormone and somatomedin production. In patients with cancer of the breast, uterus and lung, a significant correlation was established between somatomedin activity, on the one hand, and monocyte. B-lymphocyte and T-active lymphocyte levels, on the other, matched by an inverse one with T-lymphocyte level and blastogenic reaction of lymphocytes.