Zinc Deficiency in Lymphoma and Leukemia

With regard to antioxidant role of zinc in the body, zinc deficiency may be considered as one of the factors for development and progression of cancer. In this study, we evaluated zinc deficiency in patients who suffered from different types of leukemia and lymphoma in comparison with normal subjects.Subjects and

Our case population included 50 patients who suffered from different types of leukemia (ALL, AML) or lymphoma. Our control group were 50 normal subjects within the same range of age (10-30 year). Atomic absorption method was used in order to determine serum zinc concentration.

The mean value of serum zinc concentration was 730.3(µg/L) in patient group and 935.6) µg/L) in normal group. The difference was significant (P<0.05). In both patient and normal groups mean zinc concentration in men was not statistically different from women (P=1.00, p=0.77). There was not a significant relation between age and zinc concentration in both patient and normal group (P=0.34, r=0.19) and (P= 0.27, r=0.18).

The results obtained in this study indicate that zinc deficiency is a serious problem among leukemic and lymphatic patients.