DNA damage in blood cells in relation to chemotherapy and nutritional status in colorectal cancer patients-A pilot study

DNA damage can be considered as a biomarker for toxicity and response to chemotherapy. It is not known whether the chemotherapy-induced genotoxicity is associated with malnutrition. In this pilot study, we assess genotoxicity by means of DNA damage in patients with lymph-node positive colorectal cancer (CRC) and explore associations with chemotherapy treatment and nutritional status. DNA damage was compared between patients receiving chemotherapy (n = 24) and those not receiving chemotherapy (n = 20). DNA damage was measured in frozen whole blood by the comet assay. Associations between DNA damage and various indicators of malnutrition were also explored, including Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and anthropometric measurements, using multiple linear regression models. Patients on chemotherapy have higher levels of DNA damage in blood cells than patients not receiving chemotherapy (median of 16.9 and 7.9% tail DNA respectively, p = 0.001). The moderately malnourished patients (PG-SGA category B), representing 41% of the patients, have higher levels of cellular DNA damage than patients with good nutritional status (mean difference of 7.5% tail DNA, p = 0.033). In conclusion, adjuvant chemotherapy and malnutrition are both associated with increased levels of DNA damage in blood cells of CRC patients. Carefully controlled longitudinal studies or randomized controlled trials should be performed to determine whether good nutritional status may protect against chemotherapy-induced genotoxicity and enhance compliance to therapy in CRC patients.