ArticleRedox biology2021
Are trace element concentrations suitable biomarkers for the diagnosis of cancer?
Article in Redox biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Copper homeostasis and cuproptosis rewire the tumor microenvironment: mechanisms, immune modulation, and therapeutic opportunities.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2026Review
- Copper dysregulation in cardiometabolic disease: copper deficiency versus cuproptosis.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2026Review
- Environmental exposures and multiple myeloma risk: A contemporary review of epidemiologic associations and mechanistic plausibility.Blood reviews · 2026Review
- Assessment of cadmium and lead as biomarkers of prostate cancer severity.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- GCSH promotes colorectal cancer progression by inhibiting Cuproptosis through the PI3K/AKT-FDX1 axis.Functional & integrative genomics · 2026Article
- Diagnostic performance of serum vitamin D metabolites and 14 inorganic elements in early prediction of kidney neoplasm.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Targeting cuproptosis for treatment and prognostic assessment in endometrial cancer.Cancer cell international · 2025Review
- Targeting SERPINB3-MAPK axis-mediated cuproptosis resistance enhances the response to antitumor immunotherapy.Molecular cancer · 2025Article
- Cuproptosis: the mechanisms of copper-induced cell death and its implication in colorectal cancer.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- A Case-Control Study of Association Between Serum Levels of 19 Trace Elements with Prostate Cancer in Southwest China.Biological trace element research · 2025Article
- A Multifaceted Nanodrug Disrupts the Copper-Iron Homeostasis to Enhance Cancer Radiotherapeutic Effect.ACS nano · 2025Article
- Trace Mineral Imbalances in Global Health: Challenges, Biomarkers, and the Role of Serum Analysis.Nutrients · 2025Review
- The molecular mechanism and therapeutic landscape of copper and cuproptosis in cancer.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Review
- Review Article on Molecular Basis of Zinc and Copper Interactions in Cancer Physiology.Biological trace element research · 2025Review
- Zinc, copper, copper-to-zinc ratio, and other biometals in blood serum and tumor tissue of patients with colorectal cancer.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2025Article
- Microbiota-Derived L-SeMet Potentiates CD8International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Low-Invasive Biomarkers of Canine Mammary Tumours.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Review
- Sensitivity improvement of a deuterium-deuterium neutron generator based in vivo neutron activation analysis (IVNAA) system.Physical and engineering sciences in medicine · 2025Article
- Blood trace elements in association with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma risk, aggressiveness and prognosis in a high incidence region of China.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Interactions between ferroptosis and tumour development mechanisms: Implications for gynaecological cancer therapy (Review).Oncology reports · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite advances in cancer research, cancer is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide. An early diagnosis substantially increases the survival rate and treatment success. Thus, it is important to establish biomarkers which could reliably identify cancer patients. As cancer is associated with changes in the systemic trace element status and distribution, serum concentrations of selenium, iron, copper, and zinc could contribute to an early diagnosis. To test this hypothesis, case control studies measuring trace elements in cancer patients vs. matched controls were selected and discussed focusing on lung, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancer. Overall, cancer patients had elevated serum copper and diminished zinc levels, while selenium and iron did not show consistent changes for all four cancer types. Within the tumor tissue, mainly copper and selenium are accumulating. Whether these concentrations also predict the survival probability of cancer patients needs to be further investigated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.