Presence in human serum, associated with cancer, of an abnormal cholecalciferol derivative, the 1-ceto-24-methyl-25-hydroxycholecalciferol. Preliminary results of a prospective study.

Using new techniques for micro-determinations of blood fat soluble vitamin concentrations, this study from a large population of cancer patients compared to healthy controls led to the finding, extraction and isolation of an abnormal cholecalciferol derivative the 1-ceto-24-methyl-25-hydroxycholecalciferol. This factor was shown to be present in serum from cancer patients and absent in most normal controls. A double blind study has confirmed the diagnostic value of this new marker of cancer. In the same time, an animal study was performed. The abnormal cholecalciferol derivative, absent in intact rats, was found in the blood of rats transplanted by the Ehrlich carcinoma. The compound, extracted from serum of human cancer patients, injected to transplanted rats significantly decreased their survival time. Injected to untransplanted rats it induced hypocalcemia. The genesis and the possible role of this factor in cancer development are discussed.