Zeinab Babaei - Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
Hadi Parsian - Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
Dariush Moslemi - Department of Radiation Oncology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.

Background: Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the adverse effect of obesity on quality of life among women with breast cancer, including alteration in some inflammatory markers. The aim of this study was to determine the status of serum levels of leptin, IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) in obese, overweight and normal weight breast cancer survivors. Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was done on 75 women with breast cancer, 30 obese, 15 overweight and 30 normal weight patients. Serum leptin, IL-6, CRP, albumin and anthropometric parameters were measured in three groups. And the resulted data were compared by independent T-test and Mann-Whitney U-test via SPSS software. Results: Serum leptin levels of obese patients were significantly higher than those of overweight and normal weight patients (P<0.05). Higher serum CRP and lower albumin levels were observed in obese patients in comparison with normal weight patients (P<0.05). Significant differences in serum IL-6 levels were not observed between the study groups (p> 0.05). Moreover, multiple regression analysis showed that leptin was significantly associated with BMI (P<0.001), while albumin was negatively correlated with BMI (P<0.05). CRP levels were significantly correlated with BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (P<0.05). Conclusions: As Alterations in inflammatory markers were observed in included obese patients in comparison of non-obese one and such alterations synergize in obese patients, it is recommended that previously treated breast cancer patients, strictly control their BMI.

Breast cancer, obesity, leptin, C-reactive protein, IL-6