Plasma and erythrocyte total antioxidant status in patients with benign and malign breast disease.

The study was carried out on 25 women with breast cancer, 25 with fibrocystic breast disease and 19 healthy subjects. Antioxidant enzyme activities and total antioxidant status (AOX) were measured in erythrocyte and plasma of patients and healthies. Among the studied parameters, the erythrocyte Glutathione Peroxidase (GSH-Px) and Catalase (CAT) activities of patients with breast cancer were significantly different as compared to the control group values (p < 0.002 and p < 0.001) respectively. There was no correlation between total antioxidant status and any of these enzymes in erythrocyte and plasma activities of subjects. However, the positive correlation was found between erythrocyte and plasma Superoxide Dismutase [SOD(CuZn)] activities in all groups. Our results indicate that enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants are differentially altered in human breast tumors. Since the total antioxidant status measurement isn't sufficient to evaluate the oxidant damage in breast disease, antioxidant enzymes must be measured separately in order to get additional information.