[Superoxide dismutase activity in tissues from 19 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma]

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue was studied. It was observed that activities of total SOD, Cu, Zn-SOD and Mn-SOD in HCC tissue were lower than those in normal liver tissues respectively (P less than 0.001 & 0.01 less than P less than 0.05). SOD activity in poorly differentiated HCC tissue was lower than that in well differentiated HCC tissue. Contents of copper, zinc and manganese in HCC tissues were lower than those in normal liver tissues respectively (P less than 0.001 & P less than 0.01). This study suggests that decreased content of copper, zinc and manganese may be one of the factors that lead to impairment of SOD activity. The characteristic of lower SOD activity in HCC tissue and poorly differentiated HCC tissue may be a negative regulation to limitless proliferation and poor differentiation of liver cancer cells.