Erythrocyte fatty acid profiles in childhood malignancy.

The erythrocyte fatty acid composition was determined for 79 children using gas chromatography. The stearic:oleic acid ratio (SOR) was significantly lower in those children with newly diagnosed malignancies than in a reference group of healthy children. However, a control group of children with chronic, non-malignant conditions were also found to have a low SOR. These results suggest that the erythrocyte SOR cannot be used as a tumour marker in children.