A research on the level of urine neopterin to see if it may provide a vital clue for a provisional diagnosis of breast cancer in menopausal women

Abstract

Objectives: To search the relation between the level of neopterin in urine and breast cancer developed in menopause. Methods: In this study, urine samples were collected from randomly selected menopausal and post-menopausal women who attended hospital, and from a control group. The participants were classified into two representative sample groups and a control group; 1st group: 30 menopausal and post-menopausal women whose ages varied from 45 to 80 and who suffered from breast cancer but had no viral infections, chronic inflammatory diseases and smoking habit; 2nd group: 30 menopausal and post-menopausal women aged between 48 and 63 with no complaint of any type of tumors, viral infections or chronic inflammatory diseases and with no smoking habit; 3rd group: A control group with 20 women aged between 20 and 28, who did not take part in sexual activities yet, and had no complaint of any type of tumors, viral infections or chronic inflammatory diseases and had no smoking habit. Urinalysis was carried out for each sample in order to measure the level of neopterin. Results: The mathematical results of neopterin levels for the groups showed that group I was significantly higher than group 11 and III (P = 0.0001); group H was significantly higher than group III (P = 0.003). Conclusions: If the results of this study were not confounded by another factor, then can we deduce that this relationship can be used as a risk factor that should warrent further investigation of breast cancer during the care and treatment of menopausal women. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.