Serum activity of antioxidative enzymes and concentration of malondialdehyde as predictors of colorectal cancer stage in Croatian patients

One of the factors involved in the colorectal cancer development is intracellular oxidative stress and antioxidative imbalance. The study aimed to explore the link between oxidative stress measured by the activity of antioxidative markers and lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde (MDA) as possible cancer predictors of colorectal cancer by using several statistical methods. The study included 50 adult colorectal cancer patients of both genders. MDA level, the activity of antioxidative markers superoxide dismutase and catalase, and glutathione concentration were determined in patient sera. There was no age difference between male and female patients (p=0.579), and no gender differences according to cancer site (p=0.995), stage (p=0.083), and size (p=0.245). Th ere were no differences in the levels of studied enzymes. Correlation analysis of antioxidative markers and MDA with cancer size and patient age revealed strongest individual correlation between the MDA and cancer size variables (r=-0.56).