Lymphocyte labile iron pool, plasma iron, transferrin saturation and ferritin levels in colon cancer patients.

Patients with colorectal carcinoma showed statistically significant lower values of transferrin saturation, total iron binding capacity and serum iron level as compared with control group, while the level of ferritin and the size of labile iron pool in carcinoma patients were higher, although this difference was not statistically significant. Our observations are in favour of the hypothesis which suggests that changes in iron metabolism restrict iron availability for tumour cells and as consequence, slow their growth.