Liver Dear

carcinoma

and pyridoxine

to the

editor

deficiency

Sir: As will be seen from Table 1 the mean reactivation coefficients do not differ significantly between the two groups. The overall mean is not significantly different from that of a group of adult volunteers sampled in the United Kingdom and, on these findings, it seems unlikely that dietary vitamin B6 deficiency has any part to play in the etiology of primary liver cancer in Nigeria. We are grateful to Mr. W. A. Johnson for the analyses undertaken on hemolysate sam-

Foy (1) and his colleagues have described finding a-fetoprotein (AFP) in the sera of five out of ten baboons fed a pyridoxine-deficient diet. They stated that the amount of pyridoxme in the African diet is thought to be marginal and that, if so, then “its relevance to the higher incidence of primary carcinoma of the liver in Africans could be considerable.” We have measured the activity of erythrocyte aspartate aminotransferase (Asp-T) in TABLE

I.

Patient

Sex

Age

MH MA EE AT SA DD 10 RA Al AK LN

M M M F M M M F M M M

27

+ve

Notdone

32 32 35 24 40 28 29 44 40 27

+ve -ye +ve +ve +ve -ye -ye -ye -ye -ye

+ve +ve +ve +ve +ve Not done Notdone Not done Not done Notdone

of stimulated

to unstimulated

Reactivation

coefficient

AFP test

=

ratio

Liver

vitro before and after stimulation with pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PALP) (2) in six patients with primary carcinoma of the liver and in five controls. Neither group was receiving vitamin supplements. Five of the six liver cancer patients were AFP positive; the diagnosis was confirmed by liver biopsy in four of these as well as in the one AFP negative patient. Although not an absolute indication of vitamin B6 status in man, nevertheless the activity of red cell Asp-T and its in vitro stimulation with PALP are unlikely to give results in the normal range in individuals not receiving an adequate daily intake of pyridoxine. The American

Journal

of Clinical

Nutrition

29: AUGUST

biopsy

Diagnosis 1:59 1:52 1:25 1:62 1:30

Hepaticcarcinoma Hepaticcarcinoma Hepaticcarcinoma Hepatic carcinoma Hepaticcarcinoma Hepatic carcinoma “Dyspepsia” Hysterectomy Duodenal diverticulum ACH D.U.

1:00 2:04 1:89 1:98 1:39 1:69 Asp-T

activity.

pIes airmailed den City.

from

Kaduna

to Weiwyn

Andrew Ahmadu K ad una Nigeria

Bello

University

Gar-

Ajdukiewicz

Hospital

Norman

Polliti

Roche Products Ltd. Weiwyn Garden City Herts, Great Britain References I. 2.

Foy, Chim.

1976,

H.,

et al. Nature, 225: 952, 1970. M., D. MILE#{241}C ANt) A.

STANULOV’IC,

Acta

p. 813.

17: 353,

Printed

STOCK.

Clin.

1967.

in U.S.A.

813

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letters

Letter: Liver carcinoma and pyridoxine deficiency.

Liver Dear carcinoma and pyridoxine to the editor deficiency Sir: As will be seen from Table 1 the mean reactivation coefficients do not differ...
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