Evaluation of Glutathione, Albumin and Ascorbic Acid Levels in Breast Cancer Patients

Recently, an increase of global incidence has been observed for various types of cancers. Diet, lifestyle and environmental factors have an evident correlation to the development of breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related death in women. Several studies also revealed that excessive free radical generation and decreased antioxidant status had been implicated in cancer. These factors rekindled our interest upon the interaction of free radicals and antioxidants and hence the present study was undertaken to evaluate the significance of non enzymic antioxidants: glutathione, albumin and ascorbic acid levels in breast cancer patients. The study population was divided into 3 groups as follows: Group I control subjects (age group 21-60), Group II: breast cancer Patients (age group 21-35) and Group III breast cancer patients (age group 36-60). Highly statistically significant increases in glutathione, albumin and ascorbic acid levels were observed in Group I as compared to other groups. No significant differences in glutathione, albumin and ascorbic acid levels were observed in a group comparison between Group II and Group III. This relative decline of non enzymic antioxidants in breast cancer patients may be due to an increased generation of reactive oxygen species or free radicals. The results obtained emphasize the need of more detailed study involving a large number of newly detected cancers for evaluating the role of these antioxidant parameters in the prevention of cancer.