Antioxidant Micronutrient Status during Oncological Treatment in Children with Cancer

Abstract

Cancer is frequently associated with a combination of metabolic abnormalities leading to a complex, abnormal biochemical state in the tumor-bearing host, including alterations in vitamin and mineral concentrations. Moreover, the tumoricidal action of several anti-cancer drugs is known to be mediated by a free radical dependent mechanism (1). It has been suggested that lipid peroxidation is one of the main causes of irradiation damage. Conditioning regimens for cancer treatments in children often consist of high-dose chemotherapy, possibly combined with surgery or irradiation. These regimens may approach tolerance limit for several tissues. Vitamins and other micronutrients with antioxidant properties (2) have not been clearly assessed during childhood malignancies. We therefore investigated whether abnormal breakdown of antioxidants such as beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, zinc and selenium occurs at the time of diagnosis and might follow the conditioning therapy in certain groups of children with cancer. The study was conducted in France as a satellite investigation of a large multicenter case-control survey designed to document the relationship between serum micronutrient values and childhood malignancy (3). We therefore measured retinol (vitamin A), beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), cholesterol, zinc, selenium, and related proteins in serum collected from 1986 to 1989 from 170 children aged 1–16 years with newly diagnosed cancer, and from 632 healthy controls who were cancer-free. In the patient group, sample processing was performed twice, once at diagnosis and before treatment (month-0), and once 6 months after initiation of treatment (month-6).