Total antioxidant status (TAS) in childhood cancer survivors

Total antioxidant status (TAS), and the influence of treatment and correlation between TAS and parameters involved in metabolic syndrome (MS) in pediatric cancer survivors were evaluated. One hundred children and adolescents were studied. Twenty-five survivors received radiotherapy, 12 were obese or overweight.Additionally, we analyzed TAS in eight children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at diagnosis and during treatment after remission induction. The control group consisted of 22 healthy children. Serum concentrations of TAS, glucose, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, fibrinogen and insulin were measured. In cancer survivors, independently of diagnosis and kind of treatment (radiotherapy anthracyclines administration),the mean serum TAS did not differ significantly from the control group. No correlations were observed with age at the time of diagnosis or interval after the end of treatment. TAS values did not correlate with traits of the metabolic syndrome. In a group of eight patients with ALL at diagnosis and after induction of remission,TAS values were lower than in the control and cancer survivor groups. Antioxidant status was not found to be deteriorated in children after anticancer treatment, irrespective of diagnosis or kind of treatment, which might indicate sufficient antioxidant prevention. However, the possibility of the development of MS and cardiovascular disease in adulthood indicates the need for future studies.