STM Article Repository

Aims: To determine the role of human beta defensin-2 and oxidative stress by measuring serum human beta defensin-2 and antioxidant parameters in ovarian cancer patients.

Study Design: Serum human beta defensin-2 (HBD-2), and the levels of antioxidants such as serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), as well as blood reduced glutathione (GSH) and serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and serum malondialdhyde (MDA) were estimated in the circulation of 29 ovarian cancer patients and 15 of age-matched normal subjects as control.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Gynecology, Mansoura University Hospital, between May 2011 and November 2012.

Methodology: We included 29 patients (all women; age range 20-76 years) with ovarian cancer and the control group comprised 15 age-matched women free from diseases (age range 22-65 years)and was recruited from the gynecology outpatient clinic, Mansoura University. Exclusion criteria were lack of informed consent, patients with associated gynecologic malignancies like cervical, uterine, breast cancers, preexisting immunological as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, smoking, and other associated malignancies as colonic, lung carcinoma. Also, patients with any concomitant illness such as obvious systemic infection, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and renal diseases prior chemo- or radiotherapy, or using corticosteroid therapy were excluded.

Results: A highly significant lowered levels of human beta defensin-2 (.85 +/- .26 ng/ml, P=0.001), catalase activities (504.98 +/- 107.65 U/L, P=0.001), reduced glutathione levels (7.24 +/- 5.36 mg/dl, P=0.001) and total antioxidant capacity levels (1.53 +/- .24 mmol/L, P=0.001) compared with controls (2.74 +/- .92 ng/ml, 717.57 +/- 67.32 U/L, 14.79 +/- 4.29 mg/dl and 2.10 +/- .27 mmol/L respectively). On the other hand, highly significant increased in the concentration of malondialdhyde (9.36 +/- 3.30 mmol/ml, P=0.001) and significantly increased of superoxide dismutase % inhibition (56.70 +/- 9.23 %inhibition, P=0.044) were observed in ovarian cancer patients as compared with controls (6.00 +/- 2.06 mmol/ml and 49.69 +/- 16.83 %inhibition respectively).

Conclusion: The results would suggest that lower human beta defensin-2 as well as oxidative stress may be putative factors in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer.