[Change in zinc metabolism in malignant neoplasms]

Changes in the zinc metabolism indexes (levels in blood serum, leukocytes, erythrocytes, diurnal urine and liver tissue) were assayed colorimetrically in 116 patients (52 with primary and metastatic cancer of liver, 20 with neoplasms of extrahepatic localizations and 44 with acute and chronic leukemia). Normal or elevated concentration of zinc in blood serum identifiable only in cases of primary cancer of the liver (matched by a decrease in blood serum zinc level in the remaining cases) provides a differential diagnosis sign suggesting transformation of hepatocirrhosis into primary cancer of the liver. Zinc levels in blood serum and leukocytes are relatively low in cases of different types and sites of tumors, this being characteristic of the initial stages of the disease.