Quercetin attenuates oxidative stress in the blood plasma of rats bearing DMBA-induced mammary cancer and treated with a combination of doxorubicin and docetaxel.

The development of side-effects during doxorubicin-docetaxel (DOX-DTX) chemotherapy is considered as related to generation of oxidative stress by DOX. The addition of docetaxel potentiates this effect. Thus, antioxidants are assumed as a promising remedy for neutralizing deteriorating effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in pathological conditions and polyphenolic antioxidants are suitable candidates for such a therapeutic approach. We evaluated the ability of quercetin to attenuate oxidative stress developed during the process of DMBA carcinogenesis and DOX-DTX chemotherapy in the blood plasma of rats bearing mammary tumors. We have found that quercetin significantly improved the plasma nonenzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) and reduced lipid peroxidation, which suggest the beneficial effect of flavonoid. The inclusion of quercetin to the DOX-DTX chemotherapy was also advantageous. A considerable decrease of carbonyls and lipid peroxidation products (TBARS) and improvement of the endogenous antioxidant defense system (an increase of NEAC, thiols and SOD activity) were observed compared to rats treated with DOX-DTX chemotherapy. These results suggest that quercetin could protect blood plasma constituents against oxidative damage evoked by DOX and DTX.