Glutathione (GSH) concentrations in human epidermoid carcinoma tissues
were measured by high performance liquid chromatography. The mean glu
tathione content of 26 epidermoid carcinoma intratumor tissue specimen
s was 24.36 nmol/mg protein, which was significantly higher than that
in adjacent non-tumor tissue parts (3.04 nmol/mg protein). The mean co
ncentration found in normal oral mucosa was 4.80 nmol/mg protein. Tiss
ue GSH levels were not correlated with the age of the patients or tumo
r size. Additionally, cellular GSH levels in nine different cell lines
were found to spread over a wide range from 0.97 to 50.97 nmol/mg pro
tein. Elevated GSH levels in cancer tissues were probably due to their
abnormal proliferative activities. These results indicate that the gl
utathione level of oral tissues may be a useful marker for oral cancer
, which is in agreement with findings from lung squamous cell carcinom
a, cervical squamous cell carcinoma and other squamous cell carcinomas
.