Lipid levels in serum and cancerous tissues of colorectal cancer patients

AIM: To investigate the correlations between lipid metabolism disorder and the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer by monitoring the alterations in lipid levels in cancerous tissue and serum in patients with colorectal cancer.METHODS: The levels of total and free cholesterol (TCH and FCH), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA-1) and ApoB in serum of 206 patients with colorectal cancer, 70 patients with benign colorectal disease and 300 healthy participants, and in the cancerous tissue and paracancerous tissue of 152 patients with colorectal cancer were measured with an Olympus 600 auto-biochemical analyzer. The obtained data were statistically analyzed.RESULTS: Serum FCH level was significantly higher (1.9 ± 0.4 mmol/L vs 1.3 ± 0.3 mmol/L, 1.9 ± 0.4 mmol/L vs 1.2 ± 0.4 mmol/L, P < 0.05), whereas serum levels of TCH, LDL-C, ApoA-I and ApoB were significantly lower in patients with colorectal cancer than in patients with benign colorectal disease and healthy controls. The levels of FCH and TG in cancerous tissue were significantly lower (14.5 ± 9.6 μmol/g vs 19.3 ± 13.9 μmol/g, P < 0.05; 16.3 ± 19.8 μmol/g vs 44.1 ± 38.1 μmol/g, P < 0.05), whereas HDL-C level was significantly higher (7.9 ± 4.5 μmol/g vs 5.7 ± 3.9 μmol/g, P < 0.01) in cancerous tissue than in paracancerous tissue. The levels of TCH and TG in serum and the levels of TCH and HDL-C in cancerous tissue in patients with colorectal cancer were significantly correlated with TNM stage. The levels of TCH and LDL-C in serum were significantly lower, whereas HDL-C level in cancerous tissue was significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastasis than in patients without lymph node metastasis. The levels of TCH, FCH, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C in cancerous tissue were not significantly different from those in paracancerous tissue. The serum levels of FCH and TG were significantly higher, whereas serum HDL-C levels were significantly lower in patients with rectum cancer than in patients with colon cancer.CONCLUSION: The disordered and abnormally altered levels of lipids in cancerous tissue and serum of patients with colorectal cancer may be correlated with the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer.