Abstract

We measured total serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels in pre‐ and postmenopausal Stage I and II breast cancer (BC) patients and omnivorous and vegetarian controls. The omnivorous groups included 14 premenopausal women [33 ± 6 (SD) yrs] and 11 postmenopausal women (57 ± 5 yrs), and the vegetarian groups were comprised of 12 premenopausal subjects (34 ± 7 yrs) and 11 postmenopausal subjects (59 ± 5 yrs). There were 13 premenopausal BC patients (39 ± 7 yrs) and 10 postmenopausal BC patients (66 ± 6 yrs). Fasting serum samples were taken on three consecutive days, typically four times in the year. Serum ceruloplasmin levels (g/l) were measured by nephelometry utilizing monoclonal antiserum, and total serum copper levels (μmol/1) were determined by proton‐induced X‐ray emission analysis. Premenopausal patients had higher serum copper levels than their controls (mean 18.7 vs. 16.6, p < 0.03). For ceruloplasmin, the postmenopausal BC patients had significantly lower levels than pooled postmenopausal controls (0.309 vs. 0.370, p < 0.001). The copper‐to‐ceruloplasmin ratio was significantly higher in the pooled cancer groups than in the pooled control groups (3.69 vs. 3.21, p < 0.001), with similar patterns in both pre‐ and postmenopausal classes. This high serum copper‐to‐ceruloplasmin ratio in BC patients may reflect disordered copper metabolism in this disease, which could also have implications for the origin of, or the response to, the cancer process.