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Plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and urate in patients with different types of cancer
C Abiaka1, F Al-Awadi, S Gulshan
1Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Sulaibikhat. clifford@hsc.kuniv.edu.kw
Objective:
To measure plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and urate to determine whether there is any relationship with different types of cancer before treatment.
Method:
Plasma concentrations of those two antioxidants were measured in cancer patients and sex- and age-matched controls. Plasma total cholesterol concentration was measured to derive an alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratio.
Results:
Alpha-tocopherol and urate concentrations as well as alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratios were significantly lower in the cancer patients as whole, in gastrointestinal cancer and in breast cancer compared to the controls. There was no significant relationship between alpha-tocopherol and urate levels in either the plasma of patients (r=0.048; P=0.653) or controls (r=0.073; P=0.406). Alpha-tocopherol was more positively correlated with cholesterol in the plasma of controls (r=0.539; P < 0.0001) in comparison with the patients (r=0.456; P < 0.0001). There was no significant correlation between urate and cholesterol levels in both patient and control plasma samples.
Conclusion:
The data suggest that although alpha-tocopherol and urate provide important antioxidant defence in cancer, the association between their levels is weak.