Correlation between oxidative stress markers and cytokines in different stages of breast cancer

This study aims to estimate the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) as oxidative stress marker and reduced glutathione (GSH) as antioxidant and correlate them to different inflammatory markers as interleukins (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in different stages of breast cancer (BC). For the purpose of comparisons, 35 healthy subjects matched for age, sex and ethnic background were selected who have no history or clinical evidence of BC or any chronic disease and obvious abnormalities as a control group and 35 patients of different stages of BC were participated in the study. The cancer patients were diagnosed by specialists. Even the exact cause of the disease has not been identified but according to this study, 5% of the patients were having family history of the disease and 62% of the patients were having a BMI over 25. Over 60% of the patients were postmenopausal and all females participated in this study were nonsmokers. MDA level showed a significant increase when BC patients were compared to healthy subjects, this oxidative stress marker showed a significant increase with the increase of the stage of the disease. In contrast the level of the lipid peroxide scavenger GSH reduced with increasing the stage of the disease. The level of some cytokines showed a significant change between different stages and the control group. Correlation between MDA and GSH with these cytokines showed a positive correlation between all cytokines and the MDA level and a negative correlation between GSH and the cytokines. The results of this study suggests that BC stimulates the oxidative stress response and for that, different inflammatory cytokines will be produced and there is a pronounced relationship between oxidative stress parameters and these cytokines and the level of these cytokines are associated with aggressive tumors.