Plasma Iron Levels in Newly Diagnosed Syrian Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Variation According to Tumor Stage and Grade

Background and Objective: Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among men, and its incidence increases with age. There are no definitive environmental factors, lifestyle and chronic exposure to some environmental influences may play a role in the development of the disease. From a biological perspective, iron shows a close relationship with the growth of cancer cells, as the increased flow of iron into cells is necessary for their division and survival. This association makes iron a potential risk factor in the context of tumor development, on the other hand, disrupting its balance within the patient's body may affect the course and outcomes of treatment. iron and disruption of its balance within the body may affect the outcomes of the disease. Iron deficiency is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients due to its negative effect on immunity and basic vital functions.

Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate plasma iron levels in newly diagnosed Syrian prostate cancer patient, and compare them with a control group, and study the association of these levels with tumor stage and grade of the tumor in the patients.

Materials and Methods: This study included 80 Syrian men divided into two groups: patients with prostate cancer newly diagnosed by biopsy (n=40) and control group that included patients diagnosed with prostatic hyperplasia (n=20) and healthy individuals (n=20). Plasma iron concentrations were measured using a colorimetric assay.

Results: The results showed a variation in Plasma iron levels between the prostate cancer patients group and the control group, the distribution of study samples in terms of plasma iron concentrations was studied, as plasma iron concentrations of the control group were higher than the plasma iron concentrations of the patients (P-Value = 0.000165 < 0.05)

A weak invers correlation was found (ρ = -0.350) and statistically significant (P-Value = 0.02 < 0.05) between tumor stage and plasma iron concentration, while this relationship did not exist with tumor grade (ρ = -0.036) was found, not statistically significant (P-Value = 0.82 > 0.05).

Conclusions: The current study indicates that plasma iron levels vary interestingly in prostate cancer patients depending on the tumor stage. Therefore, low plasma iron levels in prostate cancer patients may indicate an advanced tumor stage and greeter spread in the patients.