Elevated vitamin levels in colon adenocarcinoma as compared with metastatic liver adenocarcinoma from colon primary and normal adjacent tissue.

Twenty-four samples of colon adenocarcinoma removed at surgery and autopsy together with adjacent uninvaded normal colon from the same subjects were analyzed for vitamin B12 and B6, biopterin, nicotinate, riboflavin, pantothenate, thiamin, biotin, and folates. Nine specimens of metastatic liver adenocarcinoma from colon primary together with adjacent uninvaded normal liver were also analyzed for these same vitamins. Primary colon adenocarcinoma contains significantly (P less than 0.001) more of the above vitamins than normal colon; 1.8- to 3.5-fold higher concentrations of vitamins were found in this tumor. In contrast, vitamin B12 levels were almost two-fold lower. Unlike colon tumor, metastatic liver adenocarcinoma from colon primary contained from 1.2- to 28-fold lower vitamin concentration than normal liver tissue. The present findings suggest that those types of primary tumors with conspicuously high vitamin content needed for the enhanced growth and catalysis of tumor metabolism may be arrested with antivitamins targeted at metabolic sites other than those involved with nucleic acid synthesis.