Determination of the concentration of Fe, Se and Zn elements in nails of Vietnamese women with breast cancer using k0-INAA method

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer resulting in death. Trace elements of Fe, Se and Zn can play a key role in the onset and prevention of breast cancer. Trace elements in the fingernails may be used as bioindicators for breast cancer diagnosis. The purpose of this work is to determine the concentrations of Fe, Se, and Zn in the fingernails of women with breast cancer and healthy women, which used to find the difference and correlation of these elements in the fingernail.
 Methods: This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Dong Nai General Hospital. The fingernail collected from 29 women with breast cancer and 30 healthy women, who are the same age and living in Dong Nai province, Vietnam. The concentrations of Fe, Se, and Zn in the fingernails were determined using the k0-INAA method. The analytical data were evaluated using some statistical analysis for the correlation of trace elements in the fingernails of both groups.
 Results: As a result, the mean concentrations of Fe, Se and Zn in fingernails of women with breast cancer were 102.87 ug/g, 0.75 ug/g and 65.49 ug/g, respectively, while those of healthy women were 69.74 ug/g, 0.78 ug/g and 107.75 ug/g. The assessment of these elements in fingernails for both two sample groups, including t-test and correlation coefficients, was also carried out in this study. As a result, the significant difference (p < 0.05) was found for the Fe and Zn in fingernails of women with breast cancer, while those of Se was not found. The correlation between Se and Zn was found in both groups. The correlation between Fe and Zn was found in fingernails of healthy women, but it disappears in the women with breast cancer.
 Conclusions: From our finding, it can be concluded that Fe and Zn significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer, while Se is not associated.

X- ray experimental set-up for in-vitro nail test

“…Therefore, nails contain small quantities of trace elements such as S (its main component), Ca, Cu, Fe, Zn, and others [8; 9; 10]. Like blood and urine, nail samples can be used as biomarkers of several dysfunction : while Fe, Se, and Zn have been correlated with colorectal cancer risk [11], the evaluation of metals (Pb, Cd, Hg) in nails have also been performed to investigate toxicity effects in the organism [12,13,14,15].…”