Background: Breast cancer is the second commonest form of cancer among women. Several studies have been conducted to identify potential risk factors. However, role of trace elements or metals in causing breast cancer has not been studied to great extent.

Aims: To estimate the serum levels of calcium, copper, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and zinc and determine their role in causing breast cancer in female patients.

Settings and Design: A case-control study on female patients with breast cancer was conducted in a private superspecialty hospital and Cancer centre situated in Southern part of India.

Materials and Methods: Newly diagnosed female patients with breast cancer in the age group of 30-60 y attending Oncology clinic were included in the study. These cases were selected irrespective of type and stage of the disease. The age matched control subjects were drawn from apparently healthy women attending master health check at superspecialty hospital. The patients or controls suffering from co-morbid conditions which affect serum levels of metal ions and other malignancies, and those undergoing treatment for breast cancer were excluded from the study. Serum was separated and tests were performed according to standard procedure for each metal ion on the same day. The estimation of metal ions was done by UV-Visible Spectrophotometer-CHEM 7.

Statistical Analysis: Independent Samples T-test was used to calculate difference between the two means. The p-value of< 0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: The study was conducted on 54 female patients with breast cancer and 54 female controls with mean age of 47.2±8.14 y and 46.8±8.4 y respectively. There was statistically significant increase in serum levels of calcium, copper, iron and phosphorus in patients with breast cancer when compared to controls. The increase in serum levels of magnesium was insignificant. A statistically significant decrease in serum zinc levels was observed in patient with breast cancer when compared to controls.

Conclusion: The present study highlights the role of calcium, copper, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. The estimation of serum levels of these metal ions has a potential role in early detection and monitoring of breast cancer.