Does variability in carotenoid composition and concentration in tissues of the breast and reproductive tract in women depend on type of lesion?

PURPOSE Vitamin A takes part in many physiological and pathological processes in women's reproductive organs. The study objective was to compare the carotenoid content in benign and malignant lesions of the breast, ovary and uterus, and to demonstrate quantitative and qualitative similarities or differences between the study groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials for analysis were physiological and pathological tissues of breast, ovary and uterus. The carotenoid pigments were isolated using column chromatography (CC), thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). RESULTS Sixteen carotenoids were identified in the study material, including those belonging to the provitamin A group. The most common were: beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, mutatoxanthin, violaxanthin, lutein epoxide and zeaxanthin. All the tissues subjected to analysis contained beta-carotene, 98% of the tissues had beta-cryptoxanthin, whereas alpha-carotene was detected in about 50% of breast tissue. No differences in carotenoid concentration were found between benign and malignant lesions in the examined tissues, apart from hydroxyechinenone, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin, lutein epoxide, antheraxanthin and neoxanthin. Similarly, no differences in concentration of the provitamin A carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and echinenone) were found between benign and malignant lesions except hydroxyechinenone. The highest total content of carotenoids and the biggest spectrum of predominant carotenoids were found in the breast. Only in tissues of malignant lesions of the uterus, we observed statistically higher total content of carotenoids compared to remaining samples from the uterus (p<0.001) and more frequent isolation of some carotenoids (compared to benign lesions). CONCLUSION The results of our study confirmed the presence of a high diversity of carotenoids in the physiologic, benign and malignant tissues of the breast and the reproductive tract in women. The differences observed among the frequency of isolation of some carotenoids do not allow to make straightforward conclusions. The frequent isolation of provitamin A carotenoids in the examined material and the lack of their occurrence as major carotenoids may be connected with using them in the cellular biological processes. However, this requires further investigation.