GLUTATHIONE CONCENTRATION AND DISTRIBUTION IN CERVICAL CANCERS AND ADJACENT NORMAL-TISSUES

Intracellular glutathione (GSH) has been shown to play an important ro le in modulating the cellular response to many cytotoxic agents, inclu ding radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs. In this study, individual g lutathione levels from contiguous blocks of cervical cancer tissue wer e determined in order to investigate the intratumor GSH distribution a nd variation, as well as the difference between tumor and its normal c ounterpart. The GSH content of a squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix was twofold higher than its normal counterpart, but there was no obvi ous difference in a case with adenoid cystic carcinoma. The tumor marg in adjacent to normal tissue has a higher GSH content than the tumor c enter in a large tumor. Although the intertumor variation in GSH is di fferent in these two tumors, a common coefficient of variation, 26, is observed, which may be used to estimate the range of tumor GSH if it can only be determined by a biopsy.