Superoxide dismutase and catalase blood levels in patients with malignant diseases

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities have been measured in blood from male and female patients of different ages with several types of cancer, in order to examine the relationship among cancer and the two free radical detoxificant enzymes. SOD activity in patients with cancer was found not to be significantly different from the SOD activity observed in the normal population. CAT activity was lower in patients with cancer, especially in lymphomas, when compared with CAT activity in the normal population.This work was supported by grants from the Plan Regional de Investigaci6n de la Comunidad Aut6noma de Madrid