[Alteration of Vitamin E levels in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the alterations of Vitamin E (Vit E) levels in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and explore its mechanism of action.


METHODS
A comparative analysis of the serum Vit E levels was conducted in patients with various pancreatic diseases.


RESULTS
In patients with acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic adenocarcinoma, serum Vit E levels were significantly lower than those in normal subjects (P<0.05), and among the 3 groups of patients with pancreatic diseases, patients with the malignancies had significantly lower Vit E levels than the other 2 groups of patients (P<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Significant reduction in Vit E levels occurs in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, indicating that oxidation and anti-oxidation imbalance might be involved in the pathogenesis of the malignancy in the pancreas.
Wang
De-Feng
DF
Affiliated Hospital of Nantong Medical College, Nantong 226001, China.
Qu
Xiao-Ci
XC
Dai
Zheng-Qing
ZQ
D000208:Acute Disease; D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000097:blood*
D014810:Vitamin E