Plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and urate in patients with different types of cancer

Objective: To measure plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and urate to determine whether there is any relationship with different types of cancer before treatment. Method: Plasma concentrations of those two antioxidants were measured in cancer patients and sex- and age-matched controls. Plasma total cholesterol concentration was measured to derive an alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratio. Results: Alpha-tocopherol and urate concentrations as well as alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratios were significantly lower in the cancer patients as whole, in gastrointestinal cancer and in breast cancer compared to the controls. There was no significant relationship between alpha-tocopherol and urate levels in either the plasma of patients (r = 0.048; P = 0.653) or controls (r = 0.073; P = 0.406). Alpha-tocopherol was more positively correlated with cholesterol in the plasma of controls (r = 0.539; P < 0.0001) in comparison with the patients (r = 0.456; P < 0.0001). There was no significant correlation between urate and cholesterol levels in both patient and control plasma samples. Conclusion: The data suggest that although alpha-tocopherol and urate provide important antioxidant defence in cancer, the association between their levels is weak.