Brief Reports
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2004. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 1, 2004; 10(17): 2544-2546
Published online Sep 1, 2004. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v10.i17.2544
Ecologic study of serum selenium and upper gastrointestinal cancers in Iran
Mehdi Nouraie, Akram Pourshams, Farin Kamangar, Masood Sotoudeh, Mohammad Hossein Derakhshan, Mohammad Reza Akbari, Hafez Fakheri, Mohammad Javad Zahedi, Kathleen Caldwell, Christian C. Abnet, Philip R. Taylor, Reza Malekzadeh, Sanford M. Dawsey
Mehdi Nouraie, Akram Pourshams, Masood Sotoudeh, Mohammad Hossein Derakhshan, Mohammad Reza Akbari, Hafez Fakheri, Mohammad Javad Zahedi, Reza Malekzadeh, Digestive Disease Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Farin Kamangar, Christian C. Abnet, Philip R. Taylor, Sanford M. Dawsey, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD20895-8314, USA
Kathleen Caldwell, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Dr. Sanford M. Dawsey, Senior Investigator, Cancer Prevention Studies Branch, CCR, NCI, 6116 Executive Blvd., Suite 705, Bethesda, MD 20895-8314, USA. dawseys@mail.nih.gov
Telephone: +1-301-594-2930 Fax: +1-301-435-8644
Received: March 6, 2004
Revised: April 4, 2004
Accepted: April 28, 2004
Published online: September 1, 2004
Abstract

AIM: Both observational and experimental studies have shown that higher selenium status reduces the risk of upper gastrointestinal cancers in selenium deficient populations. Recent cancer registry data have shown very different rates of esophageal cancer (EC) and gastric cancer (GC) in four Provinces of Iran, namely Ardabil, Mazandaran, Golestan, and Kerman. The aim of this study was to have a preliminary assessment of the hypothesis that high rates of EC in Golestan and high rates of GC in Ardabil may be partly attributable to selenium deficiency.

METHODS: We measured serum selenium in 300 healthy adults from Ardabil (n = 100), Mazandaran (n = 50), Golestan (n = 100), and Kerman (n = 50), using inductively coupled plasma, with dynamic reaction cell, mass spectrometry (ICP-DRC-MS) at the US Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, Georgia).

RESULTS: The median serum selenium concentrations were very different in the four Provinces. The medians (IQR) for selenium in Ardabil, Mazandarn, Golestan, and Kerman were 82 (75-94), 123 (111-132), 155 (141-173), and 119 (110-128) μg/L, respectively (P < 0.001). The results of linear regression showed that the Province variable, by itself, explained 76% of the variance in log selenium (r2 = 0.76). The proportion of the populations with a serum selenium more than 90 μg/L (the concentration at which serum selenoproteins are saturated) was 100% in Golestan, Kerman, and Mazandaran but only 29% in Ardabil.

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that selenium deficiency is not a major contributor to the high incidence of EC seen in northeastern Iran, but it may play a role in the high incidence of GC in Ardabil Province.

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