Serum copper and zinc levels in patients with cervical cancer

The serum copper (SCL) and zinc (SZL) levels were measured in 99 patients with cervical cancer and 50 patients with uterine myoma as controls. The mean SCL in the control group was 109.4 +/- 17.4 micrograms/ml as compared to 117.1 +/- 14.6 micrograms/dl and was not significant (NS) in 17 carcinoma in situ (CIS) patients, 142.3 +/- 14.2 micrograms/dl in 30 stage I patients (p less than 0.001), 159.0 +/- 16.6 micrograms/dl in 22 stage II patients (p less than 0.001), 171.6 +/- 25.7 micrograms/dl in 10 stage III or IV patients (p less than 0.001), and 166.2 +/- 32.2 micrograms/dl in 20 recurrent patients (p less than 0.001). The SCL returned to control level 2 weeks after surgical treatment for the stage I and II patients (mean 110.6 +/- 19.6 and 108.7 +/- 20.4 micrograms/dl, respectively, p less than 0.001). The SZL was 97.2 +/- 15.8 micrograms/dl in control patients and only showed a significant decrease in stage III or IV and recurrent patients (67.2 +/- 16.6 and 70.4 +/- 17.2 micrograms/dl, respectively). Concerning the copper/zinc ratio, the control group was 1.13 +/- 0.07 as compared to 1.17 +/- 0.07 in CIS (p = 0.06), 1.51 +/- 0.24 in stage I (p less than 0.001), 1.85 +/- 0.37 in stage II (p less than 0.001), 2.66 +/- 0.61 in stage III or IV (p less than 0.001), and 2.50 +/- 0.75 in recurrent patients (p less than 0.001). Taking mean +/- 2.5 SD of the control values as cut off points, the percentages of the recurrent patients with abnormal SCL, SZL, and a Cu/Zn ratio were 65, 30 and 90%, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)