title: Serum selenium and glutathione peroxidase, and plasma lipid peroxides in uterine, ovarian or vulvar cancer, and their responses to antioxidants in patients with ovarian cancer.
abstract: The concentrations of serum selenium and plasma lipid peroxides, and the activity of serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were measured before any therapy in patients suffering from uterine, ovarian or vulvar cancer, and in association with 1-day combination cytotoxic chemotherapy of ovarian cancer following 1-week supplementation with selenium (96 micrograms/day), vitamin E (300 mg/day), selenium and vitamin E, or placebo. Patients with gynaecological cancer (N = 44) had lower serum concentration of selenium (1.15 +/- 0.04 S.E. mumol/l; P less than 0.05) and serum activity of GSH-Px (404 +/- 13 units/l, P less than 0.01) than the control subjects (N = 56; 1.25 +/- 0.03 mumol/l and 444 +/- 8 units/l, respectively). In association with cytotoxic chemotherapy selenium alone (P less than 0.05), vitamin E alone (P less than 0.05) and both of them together (P less than 0.001) decreased the plasma concentration of lipid peroxides, and the combination of selenium and vitamin E also increased the activity of serum GSH-Px (P less than 0.01). During placebo, cytotoxic chemotherapy did not affect plasma lipid peroxides but it decreased (P less than 0.001) the activity of GSH-Px. Selenium inhibited this effect. Our data suggest that antioxidative mechanisms of patients with gynaecological cancer may be defective and that treatment with selenium and vitamin E results in changes of biochemical factors related to lipid peroxidation.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008054:Lipid Peroxides / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D012643:Selenium / Q000097:blood*; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D008054:Lipid Peroxides; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D012643:Selenium