High oxygen radical production in patients with sporadic colorectal cancer

It is hypothesized that excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by phagocytes or leakage from mitochondria may harm key genes or proteins responsible for intestinal cell homeostasis. This may initiate the multistage process of colon cancer development. The present study investigates whether ROS production by whole blood may contribute to the etiology of colorectal cancer (CRC). Whole–blood oxygen radical production was measured by luminol–enhanced chemiluminescence and performed in fourfold with and without the stimuli phorbol 12–myristate 13–acetate (PMA) and serum–treated zymosan (STZ). We evaluated patients (i) with a history of sporadic CRC at least 3 months after surgery, (ii) who were hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) gene carriers, and (iii) with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). For each patient group (n = 20) an age- and gender-matched healthy control group was measured. Unstimulated and PMA-stimulated values for maximal oxygen radical production were significantly higher in patients with sporadic CRC in comparison to controls (p = 0.01, p = 0.04, respectively). Furthermore, trends toward higher unstimulated and PMA-stimulated area under the curve chemiluminescence were seen in CRC patients compared with controls (p = 0.08, p = 0.09, respectively). In patients with HNPCC or FAP, unstimulated or PMA- or STZ-stimulated chemiluminescence did not differ compared to their control groups. In conclusion, whole–blood oxygen radical production was higher in patients with a history of sporadic CRC, in comparison with age- and gender-matched controls, which indicates that ROS may play a role in the etiology of sporadic CRC.