Serum and Tissue Trace Elements in Patients with Breast Cancer in Taiwan

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare levels of four elements (zinc, copper, selenium, and iron) in the serum and tissue of 68 breast tumor patients (benign and malignant), from a teaching hospital in central Taiwan. Samples of normal tissue (5 cm away from tumor) were also taken from patients with malignant tumors. Only serum was taken from the 25 healthy persons in the control group. Results showed that Zn, Cu, Se, Fe, Cu/Zn, Cu/Se, and Cu/Fe were present in different amounts in the serum of each of the three groups. Zn and Se levels were lower in the serum of the two tumor groups compared to the control group. In tissue samples, Zn, Cu, Se, and Fe concentrations were different in each of the three groups. The malignant tissue had the highest levels of all four elements. In advanced-stage malignant tumors, levels of Cu and the ratios of Cu/Fe and Cu/Zn (in both serum and tissue) were highest. The ratios of serum Cu/Zn, Cu/Fe, and Cu/Se were also higher in malignant patients. The cutoff value of serum Cu/Zn was 1.2 (sensitivity and specificity were both 100%). The Cu/Zn ratio was highest in the advanced stages of cancer and was a better diagnostic tool for breast cancer than Cu/Se and Cu/Fe. The authors suggest that change of trace elements in serum and tissue might be useful and significant as biomarkers involving the initial plastic process.

Selenium in serum and neoplastic tissue in breast cancer: correlation with CEA

“…It is notable that Se concentration in the neoplastic tissue was nearly fourfold greater than in the adjacent normal breast tissue. Our findings regarding serum/tissue Se levels in patients suffering from breast cancer are in agreement with other reports in patients with lung, gastric, renal, colorectal and breast cancer, where an increased concentration of Se in the neoplastic tissue was found (Garg et al, 1994;Sharma et al, 1994;Burguera et al, 1995;Kuo et al, 2002;Charalabopoulos et al, 2006).…”

“…To our best knowledge, the present study is the fourth one in the last 40 years (Pub-Med search) providing information regarding the neoplastic tissue Se concentration in breast cancer patients and the first one providing data for serum/tissue Se concentrations simultaneously, in association with serum CEA levels (Garg et al, 1994;Sharma et al, 1994;Kuo et al, 2002). It is notable that Se concentration in the neoplastic tissue was nearly fourfold greater than in the adjacent normal breast tissue.…”

“…Furthermore, it has been shown that Se supplementation decreases the COX-2 protein and PGE-2 levels in colorectal cancer cells. In addition, Se exhibits an antiproliferative effect modulating cellular proliferation in G1 phase in both normal and neoplastic cells impairing the expression of c-fos and c-myc oncogenes (Kuo et al, 2002). However, other prospective studies have failed to confirm these findings (Garland et al, 1995;Ghadirian et al, 2000).…”

“…However, other prospective studies have failed to confirm these findings (Garland et al, 1995;Ghadirian et al, 2000). A strong relationship between low-serum Se concentration and increased risk of breast cancer has been documented (Bratakos et al, 1990a, b;Mannisto et al, 2000;Kuo et al, 2002;Lopez-Saez et al, 2003).…”

Metal-Based Compounds as Proteasome-Inhibitory Anti Cancer Drugs

“…Studies have shown that copper levels are altered in tumour-bearing mice and humans [11,12], which led to an extensive investigation into the role of copper in carcinogenesis. Various cancers such as breast [13,14], colon [15], prostate [15,16], lung [17] and brain [18] have since been reported to display increased serum and tissue levels of copper. A critical role for copper in angiogenesis was discovered in 1980 [19], and it was later shown that copper induces transcription of VEGF mRNA and protein expression [20,21], contributing to the growth, invasion and metastasis of tumour cells [22,23].…”