title: Plasma zinc and vitamin A in human squamous carcinoma of the esophagus.
abstract: Zinc deficiency enhances experimental esophageal tumor induction. Vitamin A supplementation inhibits carcinogenesis in animals. Plasma zinc and plasma vitamin A levels are reduced in several human squamous cancers, but have not been studied in a US population with esophageal cancer. Therefore, we measured plasma zinc and vitamin A in patients with newly diagnosed esophageal cancer. In addition, we assessed hepatic and nutritional status and attempted to control for other factors known to influence plasma zinc and vitamin A levels. Plasma zinc and vitamin A were both significantly less in esophageal carcinoma than in age-matched healthy controls (plasma zinc 65.7 +/- 3.3 micrograms/dl [mean +/- SEM] in esophageal cancer versus 80.5 +/- 2.4 micrograms/dl in controls, P less than 0.01; plasma vitamin A 32.6 +/- 3.4 micrograms/dl in esophageal cancer versus 60.2 +/- 4.2 in controls, P less than 0.001). Overall, 15 of 17 patients with esophageal cancer had decreased plasma zinc and/or decreased plasma vitamin A. Our findings are compatible with a hypothesis that zinc or vitamin A deficiency may be co-factors in the induction of human esophageal carcinoma.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001835:Body Weight; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D006529:Hepatomegaly; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood*; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A; D015032:Zinc