[Features of transport function and structure of serum albumin in cancer]

Levels of lipid ligands in serum albumin from cancer patients were assayed versus tumor localization. Abnormal non-specific increase in albumin-bound lipids as well as in peroxidation products was found. Gas-liquid chromatography of different polynonsaturated fatty acids pointed to the enhancement of their metabolism via the omega 3 pathway. The despiralization-type changes in secondary structure of albumin identified by procedures of spectral analysis and the decline in reserve functional activity of protein in tumor patients were matched by a rise in levels of serum albumin-transported ligands. It is suggested that such increase in the ligand-binding ability of albumin provides a major adaptive factor involved in oncopatology.