Monitoring the production of reactive oxygen species in experimental melanoma

Melanoma is one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer characterized by malignant proliferation of melanocytes. The role played by reactive oxygen species and free radicals in the pathology of melanoma in humans is widely accepted today.

This paper aims to characterize some types of malignant melanoma obtained experimentally by the inoculation of reference cells for the creation of models and the identification of oxidative stress markers usable for monitoring tumor growth and development.

Mice C57Bl/6. Reference cell lines B16, F1, F10. Inoculation of cells was performed in the upper right flank. Tumors were characterized both anatomically and morphologically. For the biochemical characterization of the oxidative stress, tests were performed to determine lipid peroxides, total albumin thiol groups and total antioxidant response. Tumor volume was measured in dynamic. The fastest development has been observed in type B melanoma. For the F and F10 types, the curves profiles are the same. The results indicate an increase of lipid peroxidation reaction in dynamic tumor evolution, suggesting the malignant associated transformations.

These data demonstrate that an alteration of the antioxidant pattern can be detected in the serum of the experimental animals with melanoma, possibly related to the disease status and progression. Our results can be useful in monitoring the tumor evolution and also to highlight the prolonged damage which actions on the normal cells, suggesting the combination of the classical treatments with an adjuvant antioxidant treatment.