Zinc and malondialdehyde levels among Egyptian patients with acute myeloid leukemia and their relation with disease phenotype and genotype

Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate serum zinc and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in de-novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) before and after induction chemotherapy and their relation with AML phenotype and genotype. Materials and methods Twenty-five AML patients were subjected to serum zinc evaluation using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry and plasma MDA evaluation using colorimetric method at day 1 before induction chemotherapy and at day 21 after induction chemotherapy. Results Pretreatment MDA levels were higher in patients in comparison with controls (P = 0.03). Pretreatment zinc levels differed significantly compared with post-treatment levels (P = 0.005). The percentage of bone marrow infiltration by blasts at diagnosis correlated inversely with zinc levels (P = 0.011) and positively with MDA levels (P = 0.041). Finally, pretreatment MDA levels were higher among patients harboring adverse cytogenetics (P = 0.004). Conclusion The elevated plasma MDA status at diagnosis in AML patients correlates with a higher tumor burden in the bone marrow and adverse cytogenetic risk.