A Biochemical Study of The Levels of Some Liver Functions Tests for Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy in A Najaf Al-Ashraf City

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main causes of death in the world, is the second leading cause of death in the world, where in 2018 it is estimated that one out of every 6 deaths, which means about 9.6 million deaths. Data in the National Cancer Registry of Iraq shows that there were extra than 31,500 cases of cancer and cancer-related tumors in Iraq as of 2017-2018. It gives to an estimated 11% of all deaths in Iraq. Cancer is the result of multi-stage transformations that generally start from a pre-cancerous lesion to a malignant tumor that transforms normal cells into cancer cells. In women, the breast creates and supplies milk to feed babies and newborns. The size of each breast is determined by the quantity of fatty tissue in the breast. The breast is an organ located above the upper ribs and chest muscles. There are present on both sides, and they both have ducts, glands , and mainly adipose tissue. Factors that cause breast cancer are family history, smoking, alcohol drinking, obesity, tall stature, late menopause, early menstruation, lifestyle, therapy of inactivity and hormone replacement. Chemotherapy, also known as chemo, is a drug treatment in which powerful chemicals are used to kill rapidly growing cells in the body, Chemotherapy is a method of treating cancer cells grow and multiply much more quickly than other cells in the body, which drugs are used to deactivate or kill cancer cells. It also destroys some healthy cells because it does not distinguish between healthy cells and cancerous cells, but healthy cells can repair themselves after a period of time, or new compensatory cells can be created. There is a set of tests to evaluate liver function and estimate the percentage of damage to it depending on the percentage of the increase in these parameters, including the enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), acid phosphatase (AP),  total bilirubin, creatinine kinase (CK), total protein, globulins, and albumin. Subjects: The samples were selected depending on the doctors' diagnosis, all patients were married, and their ages ranged from 25 to 65 years. The results of the analyzes were also compared with twenty-five healthy women as a control group who were selected under strict conditions and with specifications close to those of patients, where the cases were no chronic diseases, no diabetes, no smoking, no alcohol consumption, and they had not undergone surgery for a year. The sample was taken at similar ages to the patients. Most of the liver function tests were measured for the groups under study using colorimetric reaction methods are including the enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, creatinine kinase (CK), total protein, globulins, and albumin . Result: The results of the current study were that there was a significant increase when compare between patients with one chemotherapy dose and patients with multi chemotherapy dose for all the ALT,AST, ALP, CK and  AP tests, while was significant decrease for the Total Protein, Bilirubin, Albumin and Globulins tests, on the other hand, were the compare results was a significant increase between patients with one chemotherapy dose and control groups except for globulins tests was no significant (p=0.076). While the results of the comparison between patients with multiple chemotherapy doses and healthy group was a significant increase in CK, Bilirubin and Globulins, on other side was a significant decrease in ALT and Albumin tests, then no significant (p=0.662) of AST and ALP, (p=0.025) of AP and (p=0.028) of total protein.