[Enhancement of antioxidant capability of cancer patients during chemotherapy by reduced glutathione]

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Glutathione, published as a randomized controlled trial.

This study was designed to investigate the effect of GSH on lipid peroxidation, and activities of antioxidant enzyme among cancer patients with chemotherapy.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Sixty-two cancer patients with chemotherapy were enrolled randomly into AB or BA group in cross-over pattern.

Serum samples were collected from the patients on the day just before the chemotherapy, the 7(th) day, and the 21(st) (if 21 days per cycle of the chemotherapy) or 28(th) day of treatment.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and crossover.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Glutathione group and the comparison group should start out alike.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Glutathione and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

In AB group, combination of chemotherapy and GSH was administrated first, then following chemotherapy alone was given 21 or 28 days later.

In group BA, chemotherapy alone was administrated first, then the combination therapy was given.

Duration of chemotherapy was 2-5 days, 21-28 days for a cycle, depended on chemotherapy strategies.

Concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) of serum samples were analyzed biochemically.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Glutathione, Glutathione Peroxidase, Lipid Peroxidation, Malondialdehyde, Neoplasms and Superoxide Dismutase.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and crossover study of Glutathione.

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (Ai zheng = Aizheng = Chinese journal of cancer), a journal based in China.

More context: the Glutathione compound page, all human trials.