Table 1: Patient's characteristics.

Group	n	AGE
Control subjects	117	56 ± 0.68
Healthy subjects	78
Patients suffering from non-neoplastic diseases	39
Cancer Patients	179	65 ± 0.88
Lung	32
Breast	27
Head and neck	21
Colon	17
Ovary	13
Pancreas	11
Prostate	10
Upper gastrointestinal	10
Rectum	8
Bile glands	7
Endometrium	4
Liver	3
Kidney	3
Other*	13

Results are mean ± S.D and n= the number of patients and controls. Control subjects: patients suffering from non-neoplastic diseases: asthma, hypertension, allergic rhinitis, muscle pain, high cholesterol levels. Other tumour sites: peritoneum, cervix, appendix, bladder, lung sarcoma, pleura sarcoma, myelofibrosis, pleural mesothelioma and lung heteroplasia.