Abstract
Background: The enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense systems of the cell prevent oxidant mediated damage to different biomolecules by neutralizing free radicals generated during anticancer drug metabolism. Reduced glutathione (GSH) and glutathione dependent enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-s-transferase (GST) are the key determinants of cellular response to oxidative stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in serum levels of these antioxidants after first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Material and Methods: Histopathologically proven 60 breast cancer patients were included in the present study. The blood samples were taken after surgery before chemotherapy and after 3 weeks of administration of first cycle of chemotherapy. 30 healthy female controls were selected for comparison. Serum GSH and GST were estimated by spectrophotometric methods and serum GPx was estimated by ELISA. Results: The serum levels of GSH, GST and GPx were significantly decreased (P<0.0001) after first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients as compare to levels before chemotherapy. A significant positive correlation was found between serum levels of GSH and GST as well as GSH and GPx after first chemotherapy cycle. Conclusion: Our data suggests that administration of chemotherapeutic drugs causes depletion of reduced glutathione and glutathione-dependent enzymatic antioxidants such as GST and GPx, which may be due to higher oxidative stress after chemotherapy.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women and is second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide [1,2]
Our data suggests that administration of chemotherapeutic drugs causes depletion of reduced glutathione and glutathione-dependent enzymatic antioxidants such as GST and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), which may be due to higher oxidative stress after chemotherapy
The serum levels of reduced glutathione were significantly lower in post-operative breast cancer patients before chemotherapy in stage II (P=0.0004) as well as stage III (P
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women and is second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide [1,2]. The chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in women’s life is a little less than 1 in 8. Breast cancer accounts for 25% to 32% of all female cancers in India. According to most recent estimates of IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer, WHO), about 44,937 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed and about 70,218 women were died due to the disease in India [3,4]. The treatment of choice for breast cancer is surgical intervention with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and anti-hormonal therapy either in the neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant setting depending on stage of disease [7]. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in serum levels of these antioxidants after first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients
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