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The role of copper in drug-resistant murine and human tumors

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Abstract

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is still a major threat to successful clinical application of cancer chemotherapy. Copper plays an important role in biological systems, and copper is also involved in carcinogenesis. In the present investigation, we addressed the question whether metal copper might be involved in drug resistance of murine and human tumors. By means of atomic absorption spectroscopy, we determined serum copper concentrations. We found that the blood serum of tumor-bearing mice contained higher amounts of copper than healthy mice with tumors. Secondly, mice bearing doxorubicin-resistant Ehrlich ascites carcinoma- or cyclophosphamide-resistant Lewis lung carcinoma contained more copper in their serum than mice bearing the corresponding drug-sensitive parental tumors. Furthermore, the analysis of patients with breast cancer, colon carcinoma or lung cancer showed that the serum copper contents were higher in patients not responding to chemotherapy when compared to patients whose tumors responded to treatment. The copper levels in serum of healthy volunteers were lower than in cancer patients irrespective of their response to chemotherapy. Our results imply that the level of serum copper may be considered as a biomarker for treatment response.

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Acknowledgment

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, has supported this work (5/13/18/2004 NCD-III).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of In-Vitro Carcinogenesis and Cellular Chemotherapy, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), 37, S. P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkatta, 700 026, India

    S. Majumder, S. Chatterjee & Soumitra Kumar Choudhuri

  2. Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital Unit CNCI, Kolkatta, India

    Smarajit Pal

  3. Surgical Oncology and Medical Oncology, Hospital Unit, CNCI, Kolkatta, India

    J. Biswas

  4. Pharmaceutical Biology (C015), German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    T. Efferth

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  1. S. Majumder
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  2. S. Chatterjee
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  3. Smarajit Pal
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  4. J. Biswas
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  5. T. Efferth
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  6. Soumitra Kumar Choudhuri
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Correspondence to Soumitra Kumar Choudhuri.

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Majumder, S., Chatterjee, S., Pal, S. et al. The role of copper in drug-resistant murine and human tumors. Biometals 22, 377–384 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-008-9174-3

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