Comparative Evaluation of Metal Imbalances in the Blood of Thyroid Cancer Patients in Comparison with Controls

Abstract

Cancer incidence and mortality rates have been increasing rapidly worldwide. A growing body of evidence revealed that exposure to trace metal is the most important aetiology for the development of cancer. Therefore, present study was designed to evaluate the imbalances of selected essential and toxic metals (Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb, Sr and Zn) in the blood of newly diagnosed thyroid cancer patients in comparison with their counterpart healthy subjects/controls. Concentration of the metals was quantified by flame atomic absorption spectrometry by employing nitric acid and perchloric acid based wet digestion method. Average levels of Na (1404 µg/g), K (1322 µg/g), Fe (309.6 µg/g), Ca (35.65 µg/g), Mg (25.94 µg/g) and Cr (14.68 µg/g) were found to be higher in the blood of patients than controls. Correlation study showed significantly strong relationships (r > 0.500) between Zn-Cd, Mn-Cd and Mg-Fe in the blood of thyroid cancer patients while Zn-Mg, Sr-Cd, Mn-Cr and Na-K show strong correlations in the blood of healthy donors. Significant variations in the trace metal levels were observed with the gender, habitat, food habits and smoking habits of both donor groups. Metal levels exhibited considerable differences with the stages of thyroid cancer and the agegroups of the subjects. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) of metal data manifested significantly divergent apportionment of the metals in the blood of both the donor groups.