Acetylation and oxidation phenotypes in malignant lymphoma

101 white British adults with Hodgkin's disease or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were phenotyped for acetylation status using dapsone and for oxidation status with debrisoquine prior to treatment. The frequencies of acetylation and oxidation phenotypes in these patients were compared with reference populations of normal subjects. No significant difference in phenotype frequency was found in the lymphoma patients. This suggests that neither of these metabolic polymorphisms for exogenous compounds is strongly associated with these malignancies. Owing to the small size of the study, however, an effect of these phenotypes could not be excluded.