Biochemical Investigation of Tissue Oxidative Stress and Angiogenesis with Associated Trace Elements in Breast Disease Patients in Uttarakhand, India

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous cancer with diverse clinical symptoms and an ambiguous molecular spectrum. Oxidative damage, antioxidant activity, and angiogenesis combine to form significant complex factors that stimulate breast cancer development and progression. This study is designed to determine level changes in total antioxidant status and markers of lipid peroxidation melondialdehyde (MDA) and angiogenesis vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) along with related micronutrients of copper, zinc, magnesium, and iron in malignant and benign breast disease tissue extracts. We assess specificity and sensitivity of those markers using the area under the curve of receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Association studies arc done with correlation analysis. The tissue extract level of MDA markers is found to be significantly higher (14.118 +/- 1.47 nmol/g tissue; p < 0.05), with significantly depleted levels of antioxidants (5.983 +/- 1.661 nmol/g tissue; p < 0.05). The tissue VEGF level also significantly increases in a diseased condition (512.466 +/- 5.661 pg/mg tissue) versus the nondiseased condition (422.433 +/- 13.615 pg/mg tissue). Related trace-element levels show a significant mixed pattern among studied groups. VEGF emerges as the best discriminatory biomarker of breast cancer presence, in accordance with ROC analysis. Oxidative stress and angiogenesis are found to be important factors in breast cancer development. This study forms the basis for Mire studies that focus on the relationship between roles of indices studied and cancer induction.