Comparison of the content of some chemical elements in cancerous and intact breast tissue adjacent to the tumor determined by the ICP-AES method: Original data and a mini-review

Abstract

Objective: In most countries of the world, breast cancer ranks first in the structure of oncological morbidity in women. The etiology of this disease remains largely unclear, although it is known that disturbances in the elemental homeostasis of somatic cells play a certain role in oncogenesis. The purpose of this study was to identify changes in the content of chemical elements during malignant transformation of breast tissue.
Methods: For this purpose, we used the previously developed method of sample preparation, which allows determining the content of Al, Ba, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Si, Sr, Ti, and Zn in micro samples of breast tissue by using atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma. Samples of cancerous and visually unchanged breast tissue adjacent to the tumor were examined using the developed technique.
Results: A significantly higher content of all the chemical elements studied, except for Si, was found in cancerous tissue compared to their content in intact tissue.
Conclusions: The detected multiple increase in the content of many minor and trace elements in cancer tissue compared to adjacent intact breast tissue can be used to develop new methods for in vitro and in vivo cancer diagnostics, in which the ratios of chemical elements levels in these tissues will act as tumor markers. Further, more in-depth study and understanding of the discovered phenomenon will allow the development of new methods for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.