Serum Levels of Alpha-Tocopherol, Vitamin C, Beta-Carotene, and Retinol in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between antioxidant vitamin levels and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). For this purpose, we measured the serum levels of 4 antioxidant vitamins, β-carotene, α-tocopherol, retinol, and ascorbic acid, in patients with environmentally induced MPM and in healthy controls from one tremolite village (Kureysler), the biggest erionite village (Tuzkoy) and Ankara. A total of 160 subjects were enrolled in the study, 42 (26.3%) diagnosed with MPM and 118 (73.7%) healthy subjects. A comparison was made between the MPM group and three control groups of which two were exposed and one was unexposed to mineral fibers. The study population consisted of 82 males (51%) and 78 females (49%) with a mean of age of 44.8±14 years (range; 20-65 years). Lowest levels of β-carotene, ascorbic acid, and α-tocopherol were found in MPM patients (MPM vs control groups combined, p<0.0001 for each antioxidant vitamin), without any relation to age or sex. There was no significant difference between the antioxidant levels of healthy controls of Tuzkoy and Ankara. In conclusion; our findings suggested an increased risk of MPM being associated with low levels of α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid in patients with MPM.

Intravenous Vitamin C for Cancer Therapy – Identifying the Current Gaps in Our Knowledge

“…Vitamin C supports many important biological functions through its action as an electron donor ( Du et al, 2012 ), however, the vitamin C status of oncology patients is often not assessed in clinical trials or in clinical practice. Many studies (shown in Table 1 ) have consistently shown that patients with cancer have lower mean plasma vitamin C status than healthy controls ( Torun et al, 1995 ; Choi et al, 1999 ; Mahdavi et al, 2009 ; Sharma et al, 2009 ; Emri et al, 2012 ; Mehdi et al, 2013 ; Huijskens et al, 2016 ), and a large proportion of them present with hypovitaminosis C (<23 μmol/L) and outright deficiency (<11 μmol/L) ( Anthony and Schorah, 1982 ; Fain et al, 1998 ; Mayland et al, 2005 ; Riordan et al, 2005 ; Hoffer et al, 2015 ; Liu et al, 2016 ; Shenoy et al, 2017 ). Although other case control studies have confirmed lower vitamin C status in patients with cancer ( Khanzode et al, 2003 ; Gupta et al, 2009 ), their control values were also quite low indicating possible issues with sample collection and/or analysis ( Pullar et al, 2018 ).…”

Anti-Inflammatory and Anticancer Effects of Microalgal Carotenoids

“…Previous human studies have reported that reduced levels of β-carotene can be detected in patients with different cancers, including oral cancer [398], breast cancer [399], prostate cancer [400], pancreatic cancer [338], and malignant pleural mesothelioma [401]. Moreover, numerous epidemiological studies have indicated that dietary intakes of βcarotene, obtained from fruits and vegetables, may reduce cancer mortality [402] and protect against the development of some gastrointestinal cancers, such as esophageal cancer [318], gastric cancer [316], colon cancer [312], pancreatic cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma [314,324].…”

Role of Vitamin C in Selected Malignant Neoplasms in Women

“…Vitamin C was administered along with vitamin E (Evion 400 mg) and tamoxifen (10 mg twice a day) for 45 or 90 days [47] no data no data Cancer patients were treated with vitamin C after 45 or 90 days with tamoxifen [48] Ovarian cancer intravenously 25-75 g daily Vitamin C infusion progressively increased up to 75 g per day over a period of 28 days, then it was maintained two times a week for 12 months, and once a week for next six months. The treatment was further reduced to one dose every two weeks for another six months and finally to every three or four weeks until five years post-operation [41] orally, then parenterally Case 1: 9.0 g plus 15-60 g per infusion Case 2: 3.0 g plus 15-60 g per infusion Case 1: Vitamin C infusions were given two times per week, after which the patient continued vitamin C infusions once per week Case 2: Vitamin C infusions for one week and then began twice weekly infusions, which continues to date 36 months post-diagnosis [49] Importantly, it has been noted that patients with malignant neoplasms usually had lower mean plasma concentrations of vitamin C compared to healthy subjects [50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. These patients, in many cases, were diagnosed with hypovitaminosis (<23 µM) or complete deficiency (<11 µM) of this nutrient [57][58][59][60][61][62][63].…”