[Is serum homocysteine level elevated in colorectal tumor?].
OBJECTIVE
Although it has been known that folate will participate in colorectal carcinogenesis, the relationship between blood folate level and colorectal cancer is less consistent. The blood folate level does not reflect the systemic folate status. By contrast, serum homocysteine has become a sensitive marker for the folate deficiency. We attempted to explain the correlation between folate and colorectal cancer according to the serum homocysteine level.


METHODS
We reviewed the clinical records, including alcohol history of 184 patients taking the colonoscopy and measurement of the serum homocysteine level at Health Promotion Center from 2001 to 2002. One hundred fifty-one of 184 were included, excluding 33 patients with previous history of colonic polyp, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular attack and thromboembolism. They were divided into the normal control (n=111) and the adenomatous polyp group (n=40). We had selected the colorectal cancer group (n=50) from the collection list of the tissue and blood bank less than 3 months storage interval.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the mean serum homocysteine level among three groups. However, in the subjects with high alcohol consumption, there was a significant difference in the mean serum homocysteine between the normal control (n=7) and the adenomatous polyp group (n=9) (10.2 vs 15.1 mumol/L, p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
There was no correlation of serum homocysteine and colorectal tumor. However, in the subjects with high alcohol consumption, high serum homocysteine might be related to the development of adenomatous polyp.
Hwang
Nam Cheol
NC
Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Young-Ho
YH
Shim
Sang Goon
SG
Son
Hee Jung
HJ
Rhee
Poong-Lyul
PL
Kim
Jae J
JJ
Paik
Seung Woon
SW
Rhee
Jong Chul
JC
Chun
Ho Kyung
HK
D018256:Adenomatous Polyps / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood; D003113:Colonoscopy; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D006710:Homocysteine