A prospective study of the relationship between serum vitamins A and E and risk of breast cancer.

In an 8 year prospective study (1977-1985) on breast cancer, blood was taken from 5,086 women resident in Guernsey, and the serum stored at -20 degrees C. During this period 30 women developed the disease and their serum samples were analysed for vitamins A and E, and for retinol-binding protein (RBP). A further 288 age-matched control sera (up to 10 per pre-cancer case) were similarly analysed. No relationship was found between any of these substances and subsequent development of breast cancer. A significant correlation between increasing age and vitamin A (r = 0.46, P less than 0.001) and RBP (r = 0.36, P less than 0.001) concentrations was observed. There was also a trend for increased blood concentrations of vitamin E with age, but this was not significant. Serum RBP and vitamin A concentrations were highly correlated (r = 0.91, P less than 0.0001).