Abstract
The rationale for evaluating sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid, NANA) concentrations in serum or plasma, as a potential marker in cancer-bearing humans, arose from experimental evidence indicating changes in the levels of total (TSA) and lipid-bound (LBSA) sialic acid, as well as from the patterns of distribution of gangliosides in disease states, particularly in cells undergoing neoplastic transformation [l-11]. These changes in LBSA-levels, ganglioside distribution and the appearance of neocomponents in serum might in turn shed light on the immunological depression frequently observed in cancer-bearing subjects, since such changes may be related to some of the potential functions of gangliosides on cell membranes [ 1 l151. The findings described here strongly suggest that serum LBSA is a better indicator of the presence of a malignancy than is total sialic acid concentration; both LBSA and total sialic acid are, however, elevated in cancer patients.
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