Evaluation of genetically determined sparteine oxidation and sulfadimidine acetylation polymorphism in women with breast cancer

The relationship between genetically determined polymorphic oxidation and acetylation and susceptibility to neoplastic diseases has aroused much interest. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether women with breast cancer differ from healthy women in their ability to oxidize sparteine and acetylate sulfadimidine as model drugs. The results of our study revealed a predominance of the percentage of extensive metabolizers (EMs) of sparteine (97.8%) among 90 women with breast cancer in comparison to the percentage of EM (93.2%) in 74 healthy women. Among very extensive metabolizers of sparteine (VEM), with metabolic ratio (MR) < 1.0, the difference in the MR frequency distribution between women with breast cancer (57.8%) and healthy women (39.2%) was statistically significant. The phenotyping of the acetylation showed the prevalence of rapid acetylators in 90 women with breast cancer (62%) in comparison to 31 healthy women (52%). Our results provide some evidence for a possible relationship between the EM, especially VEM, oxidation phenotype, rapid acetylator phenotype and susceptibility to breast cancer.