Summary Accumulating evidence suggests that folate, which is plentiful in vegetables and fruits, may be protective against colorectal cancer. The authors have studied the relationship of baseline levels of serum folate and homocysteine to the subsequent risk of colorectal cancer in a nested case-control study including 105 cases and 523 matched controls from the New York University Women's Health Study cohort. In univariate analyses, the cases had lower serum folate and higher serum homocysteine levels than controls. The difference was more significant for folate (P < 0.001) than for homocysteine (P = 0.04). After adjusting for potential confounders, the risk of colorectal cancer in the subjects in the highest quartile of serum folate was half that of those in the lowest quartile (odds ratio, OR = 0.52, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.27-0.97, P-value for trend = 0.04). The OR for the highest quartile of homocysteine, relative to the lowest quartile, was 1.72 (95% CI = 0.83-3.65, P-value for trend = 0.09). In addition, the risk of colorectal cancer was almost twice as high in subjects with belowmedian serum folate and above-median total alcohol intake compared with those with above-median serum folate and below-median alcohol consumption (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 0.92-4.29). The potentially protective effects of folate need to be confirmed in clinical trials.

We evaluated lipid-bound sialic acid as a "marker" in cancer patients and assessed the individual and combined value of lipid-bound sialic acid and carcinoembryonic antigen determinations in these patients. Plasma was sampled from 62 normal subjects and 125 cancer patients. Lipid-bound sialic acid was determined by the resorcinol method after total lipid extraction and isolation of the sialolipid fraction from plasma. Neither marker was increased in many breast cancer patients. Carcinoembryonic antigen was increased more commonly and to a greater degree in colon cancer patients and seems to be the preferred marker. Both markers were increased in lung cancer patients and their combined evaluation improved the rate of detection. Lipid-bound sialic acid was increased in more patients with leukemias, lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease, and melanomas, suggesting that it may be a useful biochemical marker in these types of cancer.