Several lines of epidemiological studies have demonstrated a relationship between high intake of foods rich in antioxidant nutrients such as, carotenoids, tocopherols, and vitamin C and a reduced risk of cervical cancer but no available study was performed in Korea ever since. The purpose of this study was to investigate the plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins between cervical neoplasia patients and normal control, to observe the relationship between the level of plasma antioxidant system and various clinicopathological factors of cervical cancer and to evaluate the value of prognostic factors.

A cross-sectional sample of 180 women including 90 normal control specimens was recruited from Nov. 2000 to Jan. 2001 at YUMC. Plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins were analyzed by reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography and these results were correlated with various clinicopathological factors of cervical cancer.

Plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins such as lutein, beta-carotene, lycopene and zeaxanthin were significantly lower in women with CIN and cervical cancer compared to those levels of control. However, in terms of comparison between CIN and cervical cancer, only the level of alpha-tocopherol showed significant differences. The changes in plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins showed no significant correlation with the prognostic factors of cervical cancer.

These findings suggest a potential protective role of plasma antioxidative vitamins in the pathogenesis of CIN and carcinoma of the cervix. But these changes neither could distinguish the causal relationships nor could show a significant correlation between several antioxidant vitamins with the prognostic factors of cervical cancer. Further researches are needed to clarify the mechanism of the protective effect.