Serum Metals in Breast Cancer Patients: A comparative study conducted at Hyderabad and its Adjoining Areas, Pakistan
Keywords:
Breast cancer, serum metals, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, Inductive coupled plasma, biological processes, Socio-demographic factorsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To measure the concentrations of various metals in the blood serum of breast cancer patients from Hyderabad and surrounding areas and compare them with healthy controls.
METHODOLOGY: This comparative case-control study was conducted at the Institute of Biochemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro. Samples were collected from the surgical wards at Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences. The study included 518 participants, including 259 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with a mean age of 51.10±7.761 and no prior radio or chemotherapy treatment. Patients who had previous breast surgery were excluded. The study also included 259 age-matched healthy controls without a history of cancer. After obtaining the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, blood samples were collected and analyzed for serum metal concentrations using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. p < 0.05 was considered significant at the 95% confidence interval.
RESULTS: We found the majority of the breast cancer patients were less than 50 years of Age, illiterate, and belonged to Hyderabad district and Punjabi by ethnicity. The results revealed significant differences in metal concentrations between breast cancer patients and controls, with elevated levels of aluminium, cobalt, chromium, and lead. At the same time, elements like arsenic and zinc were lower in breast cancer patients.
CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the serum metal concentration may be linked to breast cancer pathogenesis, highlighting the need for further research on environmental risk factors in breast cancer progression.
References
1. Eggert MC, Yu NY, Rades D. Radiation dermatitis and pneumonitis in patients irradiated for breast cancer. In vivo. 2023; 37(6): 2654-61.
2. Shoukat Z, Shah AJ. Breast cancer awareness and associated factors among women in Pakistan: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Asian Pacific J Cancer Prevent. 2023; 24(5): 1561.
3. Amin MN, Uddin MG, Uddin MN, Rahaman MZ, Siddiqui SA, Hossain MS et al. A hospital-based survey to evaluate knowledge, awareness and perceived barriers regarding breast cancer screening among females in Bangladesh. Heliyon. 2020; 6(4).
4. Zahedi S, Colvill K, Lopez M, Phillips LG. Implications of demographics and socioeconomic factors in breast cancer reconstruction. Ann Plastic Surg. 2019; 83(4): 388-91.
5. Wadasadawala T, Joshi S, Rath S, Popat P, Sahay A, Gulia S et al. Tata Memorial Centre Evidence-Based Management of Breast Cancer. Indian J Cancer. 2024; 61(Suppl 1): S52-S79.
6. Ali AS, Nazar ME, Mustafa RM, Hussein S, Qurbani K, Ahmed SK. Impact of heavy metals on breast cancer. World Acad Sci J. 2024; 6(1): 1-12.
7. Rehman H, Hassan M, Umar M, Qurban A, Khawar H. Study to Identify the Signalling Cascade behind Expression Level of PTEN and RB1 gene in Breast Cancer. Rep Glob Health Res. 2022; 5: 142.
8. Shaikh M, Channa NA, Wahryah AM, Mugheri MH, Samejo S, Noorani L. Haemodialysis alters the serum metal contents in chronic kidney failure patients at Hyderabad and adjoining areas. Bio Metals. 2023; 36(1): 129-35.
9. Pavithra V, Sathisha T, Kasturi K, Mallika DS, Amos SJ, Ragunatha S. Serum levels of metal ions in female patients with breast cancer. J Clin Diagn Res. 2019; 9(1): BC25.
10. Choi R, Kim M-J, Sohn I, Kim S, Kim I, Ryu JM et al. Serum trace elements and their associations with breast cancer subgroups in Korean breast cancer patients. Nutrients. 2018; 11(1): 37.
11. Ahsan M, Haider G, Taj A, Mahr K, Aslam B, Mubashir S. Breast Cancer Among Different Ethnicities (A Single Institution Study). Pak Armed Forces Med J. 2022; 72(2): 594-98.
12. Afsar NA, Bruckmueller H, Werk AN, Nisar MK, Ahmad H, Cascorbi I. Implications of genetic variation of common drug metabolizing enzymes and ABC transporters among the Pakistani population. Scientif Rprts. 2019; 9(1): 7323.
13. Padamsee TJ, Bijou C, Swinehart-Hord P, Hils M, Muraveva A, Meadows RJ et al. Risk-management decision-making data from a community-based sample of racially diverse women at high risk of breast cancer: rationale, methods, and sample characteristics of the Daughter Sister Mother Project survey. Breast Cancer Res. 2024; 26(1): 8.
14. Dianatinasab M, Fararouei M, Mohammadianpanah M, Zare-Bandamiri M. Impact of social and clinical factors on diagnostic delay of breast cancer: A Cross-sectional Study. Medicine. 2018; 95(38): e4704.
15. Amir U, Saleem Y, SundasIshaque SR. Prevalence of obesity in breast cancer patients of Pakistan. Clin Oncol. 2021; 6: 1804.
16. Bano R, Ismail M, Nadeem A, Khan MH, Rashid H. Potential risk factors for breast cancer in Pakistani women. Asian Pacific J Cancer Prevent. 2016; 17(9): 4307-12.
17. Farooq M, Zafar M, Hussain A. Study of histological features and exposure of heavy metals in breast tissues and food materials in progression of mammary tumors in breast carcinoma patients. Chelonian Res Foundation. 2024; 19(01): 1513-29.
18. Chanihoon GQ, Afridi HI, Talpur FN, Kazi TG, Baig JA. Interaction between essential (Zn) and toxic (Cd) elements in different stages of female breast cancer patients, resident in different cities of Sindh, Pakistan. Biol Trace Element Res. 2022; 200(3): 1117-26.
19. Riaz SK, Sabir S, Malik MFA, Majeed A. Identification of molecular subtypes of breast cancer using real-time PCR. J Breast Dis Res. 2023; 1(1): 1-8.
20. Ding X, Jiang M, Jing H, Sheng W, Wang X, Han J et al. Analysis of serum levels of 15 trace elements in breast cancer patients in Shandong, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res. 2019; 22: 7930-5.
21. Ali AS, Nazar ME, Mustafa RM, Hussein S, Qurbani K, Ahmed SK. Impact of heavy metals on breast cancer. World Acad Sci J. 2023; 6(1): 4.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the undertaking form or the Terms and Conditions.
When an article is accepted for publication, the author(s) retain the copyright and are required to grant the publisher the right of first publication and other non-exclusive publishing rights to JLUMHS.
Articles published in the Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & health sciences are open access articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial - Share Alike 4.0 License. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. In addition to that users are allowed to remix, tweak and build upon the work non-commercially as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Or, in certain cases it can be stated that all articles and content there in are published under creative commons license unless stated otherwise.
