Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death globally, is critically increasing in Korea. It has been known that some trace elements play a definite role in carcinogenesis through oxidative balance mechanism. The aim of this study was to examine whether trace elements could be associated with risk of colorectal polyp development. Mucosa samples were obtained from both normal subjects and adenomatous polyps (AP) patients. The levels of trace elements, selenium (Se), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and iron (Fe), were compared among normal, lesion-associated site of AP and AP tissue. The level of Cu was significantly lower in mucosa of AP than those from normal and lesion-associated site of AP. The level of Cu was significantly higher in the mucosa of right colon of both normal and lesion-associated site of AP when compared to the level of left colon. For Zn, significantly higher value was shown only in the mucosa of right colon of lesion-associated site of AP. The difference found in some elements between polyps and a control tissue provides an indication about the role of essential elements in the early stage in the colon carcinogenic process and encourages further studies to confirm the involvement of such elements in neoplastic processes. (Cancer Prev Res 17, 0-202, 2012)

Keywords: Adenomatous polyps (AP), Colorectal cancer, Lesion-associated site of AP, Trace elements