Membrane fluidity characteristics of human lung cancer

Membrane fluidity of non-cultured lung cancer tissue was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). EPR spectra of a lipophilic spin probe in a tissue of resected tumor samples from 51 patients were compared with computer simulated spectra, which were superimpositions of spectra characterizing membrane domains with different fluidity. The membranes of tumor tissues were more fluid, than those of normal lungs; the most fluid domains were enlarged and their order parameter decreased in comparison to normal tissue. An empirical fluidity parameter (H13) was defined as the criterion to correlate EPR and clinical data. The histology of tumor, the quantitative presence of different tumor and non-tumor cells and the pathohisthological stage of the disease had no significant influence on fluidity.