Evaluation of lipid peroxidation in various malignancies

Neoplastic disease is the frequent cause of mortality. Although several of the mechanisms involved in the process of cancer remain to be elucidated, there is strong evidence that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in carcinogenesis. Oxidative processes include increased lipid peroxidation which results in cellular membrane degeneration, DNA damage and profound alterations in the structural and functional cellular organization, through various reactions of ROS with the macromolecular machinery of the cell, particularly lipids, proteins and DNA. Our study was conducted in order to evaluate the lipid peroxidation in the serum of people with various diagnosed malignancies. The evaluation of oxidative stress was assessed by: a) a spectrophotometric method for the assessment of conjugated dienes and total antioxidant status (TAS), b) an enzyme immunoassay for the detection of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and anti-oxLDL autoantibodies. Our findings exhibit significant correlation between lipid peroxidation and malignancy, which supports the contribution of oxidative stress on carcinogenesis.