THE DISTRIBUTION OF BRK-ALPHA RBK-ALPHA PEAK INTENSITY RATIO IN HUMANWHOLE-BLOOD SAMPLES - COMPARISON BETWEEN NORMAL AND COLORECTAL-CANCERCASES/

A preliminary study was conducted to compare the BrK alpha/RbK alpha p eak intensity ratio in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and healthy su bjects (controls) in Israel. Blood samples were obtained from 61 CRC p atients and 124 controls. The controls represent a normal population f rom different areas in Israel. Three hundred microliters of wet whole blood samples were analyzed by the EDXRF method. A weighted mean of 2. 45 +/- 0.38 Br/Rb ratio was obtained for CRC patients, as compared wit h 3.28 +/- 0.40 Br/Rb ratio for controls. The mean value for controls represents only 112 subjects, since 12 individuals of the control grou p suffered from some other diseases and therefore were not included fo r the mean value calculation in this group. The results indicate that the Br/Rb ratio in CRC patients is significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in controls. No significant difference was found in Br/Rb ratio corre lated to age and sex. It was not possible to draw final conclusion con cerning the relationship between the Br/Rb ratio and the malignancy st age, since there was a relatively small number of eases in each stage under investigation.