ABSTRACT
To evaluate the plasma lipid profile of cancer patients pre-and-post therapy. Plasma lipid profile was evaluated in 100 specimens comprising 50 patients with cancers of various types such as breast, esophageal, colorectal, pancreatic, cervical, as well as multiple myeloma, leukemia's, Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins lymphoma at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Specimen were obtained from 25 [9 males and 16 females] of the 50 cancer patients before therapy while the other 25 specimens [9 males and 16 females] were obtained post therapy. Fifty apparently healthy, age- and sex-matched subjects served as controls. The results obtained showed a statistically significant difference in the plasma lipid levels of cancer patients compared with controls [p<0.05]. A statistically significant difference was also observed in plasma lipid levels of cancer patients before treatment compared to cancer patients after treatment [p<0.05]. There was no statistically significant difference in plasma lipid levels of male cancer patients compared to female cancer patients before and after treatment [p>0.05]. This work suggests that hypolipidemia is expressed in cancer and this may be consequent upon an increased utilization of plasma lipids by neoplastic cells. Therefore, low plasma lipid levels could be an indication of the initial changes occurring in neoplastic cells which could be an index for assessing patients response to treatment