Background: An inverse relationship between selenium (Se) intake and cancer mortality is evident in humans.
Materials and methods: In eighty patients who had been operated on for primary gastric cancer, serum Se and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were measured preoperatively using a fluorometric and immunoradiometric assay (IRMA), respectively.
Results: The serum Se levels were 43+/-6.3 microg l(-1) in the patient group and 68.7+/-4.5 microg l(-1) in healthy individuals (p<0.001). The serum CEA was 12+/-1.9 U ml(-1) in the gastric cancer patients and 2.1 U ml(-1) in the control group (p<0.001). The Se tissue concentrations were 2,640+/-220 mg g(-1) in excised neoplastic tissue and 685+/-115 mg g(-1) in non-neoplastic tissue (p<0.001). An inverse correlation between Se and CEA serum levels was found (r=-0.782). There was no correlation between serum/tissue Se concentration and disease stage/histological type or gender in the patient group.