Objectives: Research indicates that oxidative stress induced by smoking plays a crucial role in breast cancer. In view of these reports, we aimed to study this relationship between smoking and oxidative stress in breast cancer patients from western region of Nepal.
Materials and methods: Study included a control group of 42 females (non-smoking healthy women) and test group was divided into two groups Group-I consisting of 46 female breast cancer patients who were smokers and Group-II consisting of 42 non-smoking breast cancer patients. Detailed history of the patients was collected with the help of pre-test proforma. Plasma levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant activity (TAA), which represents its total dietary antioxidants, vitamin C and α- tocopherol were estimated by standard methods. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 16.
Results: The plasma MDA, TAA, vitamin C and α- tocopherol were 1 ± 1.4 nmol/ml, 918 ± 207 µmol/L, 1 ± 0.24 mg/dL and 0.94 ± 0.31 mg/dL in controls, 5 ± 1.2 nmol/ml, 458 ± 166 µmol/L, 0.64 ± 0.32 mg/dL and 0.5 ± 0.3 mg/dL in Group-I and 2.56 ± 1.2 nmol/ml, 663 ± 178 µmol/L, 0.78 ± 0.2 mg/dL and 0.77 ± 0.2mg/dL in Group-II, respectively. Vitamin C, α- tocopherol and TAA (p = 0.001) were significantly reduced whereas MDA (p = 0.001) was significantly raised in Group-I when compared to controls and Group-II.
Conclusion: We observed a significant rise in oxidative stress and low levels of antioxidants in breast cancer patients with smoking habit. It is well known that free radicals facilitate the progression of breast cancer, possibly increases the risk of progression to the next stage.
Manuscripts that are Published Ahead of Print have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by the Editorial Board of the West Indian Medical Journal. They may appear in their original format and may not be copy edited or formatted in the style guide of this Journal. While accepted manuscripts are not yet assigned a volume, issue or page numbers, they can be cited using the DOI and date of e-publication. See our Instructions for Authors on how to properly cite manuscripts at this stage. The contents of the manuscript may change before it is published in its final form. Manuscripts in this section will be removed once they have been issued to a volume and issue, but will still retain the DOI and date of e-publication.
Our 7 faculties and 12 professional schools offer more than 200 programmes to some 18,000 graduate, undergraduate and continuing studies students.
The UWI, Mona ranks first in Jamaica among accredited tertiary-level programmes. In 2012, the University was again one of Jamaica’s Top 100 Employers.
