Estimation of some Biochemical Variables in Women with Breast Cancer after Chemotherapy Treatment in Nineveh Governorate

Breast cancer ranks first among the cancers that affect women globally and causes death in approximately 28.6% of women affected by it. Thymidylate synthetase (TS) is the only enzyme responsible for the synthesis of deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP) in the de novo pathway. dTMP is one of the basic building blocks for synthesis and duplicating DNA, and thus the TS enzyme plays an important role in cell division and proliferation. Its activity may be considered as a tumor biomarker for monitoring malignant diseases such as breast cancer. TS activity was evaluated in serum using the sandwich (ELISA) technique, as well as malondialdehyde and creatinine in (30) healthy females as a control group and 60 female patients with breast cancer undergoing endoxan, epirubicin and paclitaxel chemotherapy. The patient and control groups were divided according to age into three groups, and the patients were parted according to disease stages and treatment doses into four and three categories, respectively. The current study aimed to estimate the activity of this enzyme to find out the extent to which it can be used as a diagnostic tool and to determine the effectiveness of treatment and follow-up of the disease in its various stages. The results showed a significant decrease p 0.01 by 30.68% in serum TS activity in patients with breast cancer compared to the control group, while malondialdehyde and creatinine did not. Also, age and disease stage factors did not show any significant effect on these parameters, while drug doses showed a different effect.