Evaluation of the lipid composition of human healthy and neoplastic renal tissues.

The assumption that kidney tumors are characterized by high lipid content has directed our research towards the evaluation and comparison of lipids in healthy and neoplastic human renal tissues. This research appears to have marked importance owing to the role of lipids in cancer cell biochemistry. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy and chromatographic methods allow the full description of the lipidic profile typical of intact medulla, intact cortex, clear-cell renal carcinomas, chromophobe-cell renal carcinomas, oncocytomas and two samples of medulla infiltrated by a nephrocarcinoma. Significant differences among healthy, benign and malignant tissues were shown, and the results were discussed in relation to the different roles of each lipidic component and compared with the literature data.