Plasma zinc and vitamin a in human squamous carcinoma of the esophagus

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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 μg/dl [mean ± SEM] in esophageal cancer versus 80.5 ± 2.4 μg/dl in controls, P < 0.01; plasma vitamin A 32.6 ± 3.4 μ/dl in esophageal cancer versus 60.2 ± 4.2 in controls, P < 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.