Original Article Higher oxidation and lower antioxidant levels in peripheral blood plasma and bone marrow plasma from advanced cancer patients Elena M. V. de Cavanagh, Ph.D. 1, Alba E. Honegger, M.S. 2, Erica Hofer, M.S. 2, Raul H. Bordenave, M.D. 3, Eduardo O. Bullorsky, M.D. 4, Norma A. Chasseing, Ph.D. 2 * Cesar Fraga, Ph.D. 1 1Físicoquimica-PRALIB, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina 2Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Buenos Aires, Argentina 3Department of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, British Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina 4Department of Oncology, I. Iriarte Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina email: Norma A. Chasseing (chaseing@ibyme.dna.uba.ar) *Correspondence to Norma A. Chasseing, BACKGROUND Bone marrow (BM) is an important tissue in the generation of immunocompetent and peripheral blood cells. The precursors of hematopoietic cells in BM undergo continuous proliferation and differentiation and are highly vulnerable to acute and chronic oxidative stress. Little is known about the oxidant and antioxidant status in the BM of untreated patients with nonhematologic tumors. In this study, oxidative stress was evaluated in peripheral blood plasma (PBP) and BM plasma (BMP) from lung carcinoma (LC) and breast carcinoma (BC) patients. METHODS The sample included 13 consecutive untreated LC patients, 15 BC patients, and 11 healthy controls. Luminol-dependent chemiluminescence was used to evaluate oxygen radical generation by peripheral blood neutrophils. Lipid oxidation, assessed by 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, and total ubiquinol-10 levels were determined in PBP and BMP. RESULTS In LC and BC patients, neutrophil chemiluminescence was higher (128% and 264%, respectively) than in controls (P < 0.05). In cancer patients, TBARS levels were higher in both PBP (51% and 243% for LC and BC patients, respectively) and BMP (66% and 305% for LC and BC patients, respectively) than in plasma from controls (P < 0.01). alpha-Tocopherol and total ubiquinol-10 levels were significantly lower in BMP from BC patients compared with controls. In BC patients, alpha-tocopherol content in PBP was significantly lower than in controls. CONCLUSIONS Untreated cancer patients presented an imbalance between oxidant generation and lipid-soluble antioxidant levels in favor of the former. Cancer 2002;94:3247-51. © 2002 American Cancer Society. Ann's NOTE: We wrote to the author: Dear Dr. Chasseing: We are patients who run an organization with a website for those interested in CAM and natural therapies. (We saw only the abstract of your recent paper in Cancer). Would you 'speculate' that an increase in intake of antioxidants might be beneficial to the patient population you studied? Thanks for a response. And here is her response: Dear Ann Fonfa: Thanks for the e-mail. Dietary antioxidant supplementation increases the antioxidant levels in peripheral blood plasma. In addition, nutritional antioxidant strategies can prevent the genotoxic effects that some chemotherapeutic agents produce in bone marrow myelogenous progenitors cells. Also I think that the supplementation of untreated lung and breast cancer patients with antioxidants might also increase antioxidant levels in bone marrow plasma , possibly ameliorating the oxidant/ antioxidant status in the bone marrow. Given both the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in tumor promotion and the danger of increased ROS production under chemotherapy/ irradiation tratments, the current results of our paper underscore the importance of antioxidant therapy to protect cells from further damage. Dra. Chasseing. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.