Peripheral amino acid levels in patients with cancer

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Abstract
Peripheral arterial and venous whole blood amino acid concentrations were determined in 4 groups of subjects after an overnight fast: normal people, patients with cancer who had not lost body wt, subjects with cancer who had lost more than 20% of body wt and patients who had lost more than 20% of body wt from diminished intake due to cause other than cancer. Comparison of the arterial blood levels in the 4 groups showed that patients with cancer and wt loss had amino acid patterns different from patients who were malnourished for other reasons. Branched chain amino acids were normal in patients with malignant disease. Some gluconeogenic amino acids were reduced as in other subjects with wt loss but the characteristic rise in glycine seen with malnutrition was not present. Arterio-venous differences in whole blood across the forearm showed no evidence of increase in venous excess in patients with progressive malignant disease, indicating no excessive protein catabolism in muscle tissue. Increased gluconeogenesis in malnourished cancer subjects is probably due to an intrinsic change in hepatic metabolism.