Differences in serum iron levels in relation to tumor grade in newly diagnosed Syrian breast cancer patients

Background: Numerous studies have established involvement of trace elements like iron in the development of breast cancer. thus, there is controversy in the literature about the complications of iron supplementation during cancer treatments. The aim of this study is to investigate serum iron levels in Syrian breast cancer patients and compare them with a control group and studying the correlation of its levels with the tumor status in patients.

Materials and methods: This study included 80 Syrian women divided into two groups: a group of patients with newly diagnosed via a biopsy breast cancer (n = 40), and the control group included healthy women (n = 40). The serum Iron concentrations were measured using a colorimetric assay.

Results: Although Iron serum levels were higher in healthy subjects when compared to breast cancer patients as a whole group but this did not reach statistical significance (P-value = 0.108) while this difference was significant between healthy subjects and low grade tumor patients (P-value = 0.009), and the higher serum iron levels were associated with a higher tumor grade (P- value = 0.011).

Conclusions: The present study indicated that iron serum levels vary interestingly in breast cancer patients depending on tumor grade, and therefore high serum levels of iron in breast cancer patients could indicate more aggressive tumor type.