Objective: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent types of cancers seen in women, especially in industrial societies. It is a heterogeneous and complex disease affected by genetic, diet and environmental factors. This study intends to investigate if there is a significant relation between the oxidative stress and the glutathione (GSH) and/or zinc (Zn) levels in breast cancer (BC) and to determine the cancer risk of the benign breast disease (BBD).

Material and Methods: For this reason, malignant tissue specimens and the adjacent normal tissue specimens were taken from 25 patients having BC. Tissue specimens were also obtained from 14 patients having BBD. Zn, GSH and MDA levels in the tissue samples are assessed to be the indicators of lipid peroxidation.

Results: Our study has shown that there are statistically significant decreases in MDA and GSH levels but an increase in Zn levels in malignant tissues of BC when compared with the adjacent normal tissues. MDA and GSH levels were found to be significantly higher in benign breast disease tissues than breast cancer tissues, but lower than normal tissues. On the other hand, Zn levels have shown just an opposite variation with respect to MDA and GSH levels.

Conclusion: Our findings have suggested that the patients with BBD might show an increased risk from the point of BC.