Reassessment of the relationship between aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and lung cancer

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase was measured in cultured human lymphocytes induced with benzathracene and in pulmonary alveolar macrophages induced in situ in cigarette smokers. Considered separately, neither lymphocyte AHH nor macrophage AHH levels were distinctly different in either noncancer or lung cancer patients. Considered simultaneously, lymphocyte and macrophage AHH levels are quite different in noncancer and lung cancer patients. The lung cancer patient group was seen to contain a significantly higher percentage of persons with high levels of AHH than did an age-matched group of noncancer patients, (P less than 0.001), when more than one tissue was assayed to determine the individual's enzyme levels.