Increased lipid peroxidation in malignant tissues of patients with colorectal cancer

✍ Scribed by Theophilus Otamiri; Rune Sjödahl

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 321 KB
• Volume: 64
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19890715)64:2<422::aid-cncr2820640214>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

The authors investigated the level of lipid peroxidation and possible related phenomena in the activation of phospholipase A2 and the infiltration of granulocyte neutrophils in human colorectal cancer tissue samples. Malondialdehyde (an index of lipid peroxidation), phospholipase A2 activity, and niyeloperoxidase activity (a marker of granulocyte neutrophils) were found to be increased significantly in cancerous compared with macroscopically normal tissues. They concluded that increased lipid peroxidation, phospholipase A2, and myeloperoxidase activity are associated with human colorectal cancer.

Cancer 64:422-425. 1989.

ECENT EVIDENCE indicates that generation of active R oxygen species (that may lead to lipid peroxidation) and formation of reactive aldehydes and peroxides may be involved in tumor promotion.',2 Furthermore, some investigators have shown that reactive aldehydes, formed after lipid peroxidation, may function as cocarcinogenic agents by being highly cytotoxic and inhibiting protective enzyme functions such as DNA repair.3 Sevanian et aL4 showed a close association between activation of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and lipid peroxidation. Such PLA2 activation might produce chemotactic agents such as leukotrienes and platelet-activating factors' which might cause neutrophil infiltration. The consequence of neutrophil infiltration into tissues might lead to further generation of free radicals6 and lipid peroxidation, producing a self-perpetuating cycle characteristic of tumor tissue. However, previous results in rat hepatoma7 and malondialdehyde content in mouse skin after tumor promoter exposure' showed decreased levels of lipid peroxidation.

We investigated human colorectal tumor samples and compared them with macroscopically normal tissues in regard to lipid peroxidation, PLA2 activity, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, a marker of granulocyte neutrophils.