[Distinctive infrared spectral features in human breast cancer]

Substantial differences were found in the spectral properties of surgical samples from 20 women patients with histologically normal and cancerous breast tissue. The most striking changes in the spectra were observed in the symmetric and asymmetric stretching bands of phosphodiester groups, which shifted to short wavenumber about 3 cm-1 in nu s PO2-, and to long wavenumber about 2 cm-1 in nu s PO2-. The ratio of A1,173/A1,163 increased and that of A1,025/A1,082 decreased, the intensity of symmetric and asymmetric stretching bands of CH3 decreased and those of CH2 increased in all of breast cancer tissues. Our findings indicated that in breast cancer tissue, the degree of hydrogen-bonding of oxygen atoms in the backbone of nucleic acid increased; the content of glycogen decreased; the degree of hydrogen-bonding of OH groups in serine, tyrosine, and threonine residues of cell proteins decreased; and also there were changes in the packing and the conformational structure of the methylene chains of membrane lipids.