Tissue carcinoembryonic antigen, dysplasia, and disease duration in colonic inflammatory bowel disease.

Tissue carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was studied in five groups of patients: eight ulcerative colitis patients with mild or no dysplasia, five ulcerative colitis patients with severe dysplasia, seven Crohn's disease patients with nondiseased colon, nine Crohn's disease patients with diseased colon, and 18 colorectal cancer patients from the noncancerous colon resection margins. CEA levels were significantly lower in the normal colon Crohn's group than all other groups (p less than 0.05).

Fecal steroid metabolites and breast cancer risk.

Women with breast cancer (n = 78) had a higher excretion of total fecal steroids in mg/gm of dry weight (56 + 37) compared to controls (45 + 29; n = 71) (P = 0.03). Increases in both total neutral steroids and total bile acids in cases contributed to this significant difference.