title: Evaluation of leukocyte arylsulphatase a, serum interleukin-6 and urinary heparan sulphate following tamoxifen therapy in breast cancer.
abstract: Leukocyte arylsulphatase A (AS-A) was shown to be significantly high in newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients. Previous reports imply a connection between serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and breast cancer, possibly through a modulation of enzymes involved in estrogen synthesis. Abnormal distribution of heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPGs) in malignant breast epithelial cells suggests that they play a key role in the regulation of cell growth. Estradiol is believed to be effective in modulating glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and their depolymerizing enzymes. Therefore, in this study, attempts were made to evaluate the activity of leukocyte arylsulphatase A, serum interleukin-6, urinary GAGs and heparan sulphate (HS) in response to tamoxifen (TAM) therapy in mastectomised breast cancer patients. Thirty-four patients (aged 30-82 years) were administered TAM (20 mg twice daily). Blood and urine samples of each patient were collected three times (at the beginning, and in third and sixth month of TAM therapy), and biochemical parameters were measured. There was no difference between baseline leukocyte AS-A activity and that measured after three months. At the end of six months, enzyme activity was significantly higher than the former values (p=0.022), but within the reference intervals reported in the literature. Although this increase might imply a normalization, the duration of TAM therapy is not long enough to make a decision about either regression or aggravation of the disease. TAM did not have any effect on serum IL-6, urinary HS and GAG levels which may be due to insensitivity of these variables to TAM during the short period of therapy. Both urinary GAG and HS levels measured at sixth month exhibited a positive correlation with the baseline level of leukocyte AS-A (p=0.005 and 0.009, respectively), suggesting that positive responses to the drug might be seen in patients with low AS-A activity.
authors: Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Capa, Istanbul 34093, Turkey.
authors: Yildiz
authors: Y
authors: Oner-Iyidoğan
authors: Pernur
authors: P
authors: Oner
authors: Hikmet
authors: H
authors: Koçak
authors: Abdul
authors: A
authors: Lama
authors: Figen
authors: F
authors: Gürdöl
authors: Seldağ
authors: S
authors: Bekpinar
authors: Nurettin
authors: N
authors: Unur
authors: Zeynep
authors: Z
authors: Ozbek-Kir
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D002553:Cerebroside-Sulfatase / Q000378:metabolism; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000652:urine; D006497:Heparan Sulfate / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D008875:Middle Aged; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D002553:Cerebroside-Sulfatase; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006497:Heparan Sulfate; D015850:Interleukin-6; D013629:Tamoxifen