https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)60358-4.pdf

Suicide mortality in India: a nationally representative survey

Reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs), including superoxide anion (O2*-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hydroxyl radical (*OH), play an important role in carcinogenesis. There are some primary antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) which protect against cellular and molecular damage caused by the ROMs. We conducted the present study to determine the rate of O2*- and H2O2 production, and concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), as an index of lipid peroxidation, along with the SOD, GPx and CAT activities in 54 breast cancer (BC) patients. Forty-two age- and sex-matched patients with minor surgical problems, who had no history of any neoplastic or breast disorders, were taken as controls. The rate of O2*- production was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in BC patients than controls, irrespective of clinical stages and menopausal status. Similarly, H2O2 production was significantly higher in BC patients, especially in stage III and postmenopausal groups, as compared to the respective controls. MDA concentration was also observed significantly elevated in stage II (p < 0.001), stage III (p < 0.01), postmenopausal (p < 0.005), and premenopausal (p < 0.02) group as compared to their corresponding controls. SOD and GPx activities were found significantly raised in all the groups (p < 0.001), except the GPx activity was found a smaller alteration in stage IV (p < 0.02). On the contrary, CAT activity was found significantly depressed in all the study groups. The maximum depression was observed in stage II (-61.8%). Lower CAT activity in our study may be the effect of higher production of ROMs, particularly O2*- and *OH. SOD and GPx, however, were less effected by these higher ROMs production. The results of our study have shown a higher ROMs production and decreased CAT activity, which support the oxidative stress hypothesis in carcinogenesis. The relatively higher SOD and GPx may be due to the response of increased ROMs production in the blood. However, the higher SOD and GPx activities may be inadequate to detoxify high levels of H2O2 into H2O leading to the formation of the most dangerous *OH radical followed by MDA. Therefore, administration of CAT may be helpful in the management of BC patients. However, further elaborate clinical studies are required to evaluate the role of such antioxidant enzymes in BC management.

Lipid peroxidation, free radical production and antioxidant status in breast cancer

Summary Among various diseases, cancer has become a big threat to human beings globally. As per Indian population census data, the rate of mortality due to cancer in India was high and alarming with about 806000 existing cases by the end of the last century. Cancer is the second most common disease in India responsible for maximum mortality with about 0.3 million deaths per year. This is owing to the poor availability of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. All types of cancers have been reported in Indian population including the cancers of skin, lungs, breast, rectum, stomach, prostate, liver, cervix, esophagus, bladder, blood, mouth etc. The causes of such high incidence rates of these cancers may be both internal (genetic, mutations, hormonal, poor immune conditions) and external or environmental factors (food habits, industrialization, over growth of population, social etc.). In view of these facts, the present article describes the status of various types of cancers in India and its comparison at global level. Besides, attempts have been made to describe the main causes of cancer along with their preventive measures. In addition to this, efforts have also been made to predict the effect of increasing number of cancer patients on the Indian economy.

Cancer Scenario in India with Future Perspectives

Nanostructured materials functionalized with metal complexes: In search of alternatives for administering anticancer metallodrugs

Background
Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy among women, next to cervix cancer. Understanding its pathogenesis, morphological features and various risk-factors, including family history holds a great promise for the treatment, early detection and prevention of this cancer.

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Clinico-morphological patterns of breast cancer including family history in a New Delhi hospital, India-A cross-sectional study

Cancer incidence and eighteen site-specific age standardised rates in India were estimated for the year 1991. With the establishment of National Cancer Registry Programme, incidence rates per 100,000 are available from six metropolitan registries and one rural registry. Using population census data for India in 1991, about 609,000 new cancer cases were estimated to have been diagnosed in the country in 1991. The estimated age standardised rates per 100,000 were 96.4 for males and 88.2 for females. The five most common cancers were lung (10.6%) pharynx (9.1%), oesophagus (6.7%), tongue (6.6%) and stomach (5.7%) among males and cervix (23.5%), breast (19.3%), ovary (5.5%) oesophagus (4.4%), and mouth (3.9%) among females. A comparison of estimated ASRs for two two largest countries in Asia (China and India) showed differences in the pattern of cancer.

B Ganesh

Papers

Estimate of cancer incidence in india in 1991