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PurposeIt has been suggested that selenium deficiency is a risk factor for several cancer types. We conducted a case-control study in Szczecin, a region of northwestern Poland, on 95 cases of lung cancer, 113 cases of laryngeal cancer and corresponding healthy controls.MethodsWe measured the serum level of selenium and established genotypes for four variants in four selenoprotein genes (GPX1, GPX4, TXNRD2 and SEP15). Selenium levels in the cases were measured after diagnosis but before treatment. We calculated the odds of being diagnosed with lung or laryngeal cancer, conditional on selenium level and genotype.ResultsAmong lung cancer cases, the mean selenium level was 63.2 µg/l, compared to a mean level of 74.6 µg/l for their matched controls (pConclusionA selenium level below 60 µg/l is associated with a high risk of both lung and laryngeal cancer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184873.].

Observational studies have reported an inverse relationship between selenium status (blood or toenail) and the risk of laryngeal cancer; however, the impact of low serum selenium level on survival has not been evaluated.We conducted a prospective study of 296 patients diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in Szczecin, Poland. Serum selenium was measured at diagnosis and prior to treatment. Patients were followed from the date of diagnosis to death at five years. Vital status was obtained by linkage to the Polish National Death Registry.The five-year survival after diagnosis was 82.0% (95% CI: 68% to 91%) for individuals in the highest quartile of serum selenium (> 66.8 μg/L) and was 28.6% (95% CI 19% to 42%) for individuals in the lowest quartile (