title: High prevelance of chronic magnesium deficiency in T cell lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic zinc deficiency in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and malignant lymphoma.
abstract: Magnesium and zinc are the elements having essential roles in regulation of cell growth, division and differentiation. There have been some studies in the literature suggesting an association between the deficiency of these elements and the development of malignant disorders. In this study hair and serum zinc and magnesium levels were investigated in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and malignant lymphoma (ML) at the time of initial diagnosis. Ten children with T-cell ALL, 10 children with B-precursor ALL, 5 children with Burkitt's Lymphoma (BL), 11 children with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), 10 children with non-Burkitt non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NBNHL) and 12 age and sex matched healthy children as a control group were included in the study. Mean hair magnesium levels in all of the groups of the patients were lower than the levels in the control group but the difference was statistically significant only in the children with T cell ALL comparable to the controls (28.9+/-3.9 microg/g and 87.6+/-18.5 microg/g respectiveley, p<0,05). Mean serum magnesium levels in all the cohorts were not significantly different than those in controls (p>0.05 in each comparison). Mean hair zinc levels in the patients with T-cell, B-precursor ALL, BL, HL, NBNHL were 103.4+/-14.6 microg/g, 100.9+/-7.8 microg/g, 91.1+/-19 microg/g, 72.5+/-9.1 microg/g, 103.2+/-12.2 microg/g respectively. Each of these levels were significantly lower than the mean hair zinc levels of the control group (141.2+/-9.6 microg/g, p<0.05 in each comparison). Although mean serum zinc levels in all of the groups were also decreased, the differences were statistically significant only in the groups with B-precursor ALL, HL and NBNHL (75.9+/-5.29 microg/dl, 68.6+/-7.3 microg/dl, 85.7+/-5.5 microg/dl respectively) when compared with controls (105.1+/-9.9 microg/dl, p<0.05 in each comparison). Hair magnesium and zinc levels showed a positive correlation with each other in all the groups (r congruent with 0.5). No significant difference was found in the mean hair/serum magnesium and zinc levels between malnourished and nonmalnourished patients. In conclusion, regarding the results of our study and previous data in the literature chronic magnesium and zinc deficiency seems to be associated with the development of ALL and malignant lymphoma in a group of patients.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Sami Ulus Children's Hospital Department of Pediatric Oncology, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ertem
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Duru
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Birgen
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yüksek
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008274:Magnesium / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D008275:Magnesium Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D009752:Nutritional Status; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015995:Prevalence; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
chemical_list: D008274:Magnesium; D015032:Zinc