Our findings indicate that sialic acid and fibronectin levels in breast tumors are higher than those in normal tissues. The mean tissue fibronectin and sialic acid concentrations for patients with breast cancer were 30.90 +/- 9.68 microg/mg protein and 21.60 +/- 9.35 microg/mg protein, respectively, and for normal controls were 12.47 +/- 5.69 microg/mg protein, respectively. Tissue fibronectin and sialic acid can be important markers for human breast cancer.