The determination of zinc, copper and iron oxidation state in invasive ductal carcinoma of breast tissue and normal surrounding tissue using XANES

X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was used to examine the oxidation state of Zn, Fe and Cu in 22 normal and 23 tumour regions spread over 30 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples of human primary invasive breast cancer. A micro-mapping analysis of the metal distribution in the tissue was performed prior to the XANES analysis to identify and localise the metals in the tumour and normal tissue regions. The aim of this study was to identify the oxidation state of Zn, Fe and Cu in normal and tumour tissues of the breast, in order to correlate the oxidation state of these elements with the carcinogenesis process. The position of the Zn K-edge in normal and tumour tissues suggests that Zn exists in a bounded form. The shape of the Cu K-edge XANES spectra and the first derivative spectra of normal and tumour tissues shows that a significant portion of the total copper is present as Cu (I). Nevertheless, the position of the edges in the normal and tumour tissue spectra does not exclude the presence of Cu (II). The shape and position of both normal and tumour regions of the tissue suggest that they contain mixtures of Fe (II) and Fe (III) ions with a significant fraction being Fe (III). However, normal tissue regions were found to have a higher fraction of Fe (II) compared to the tumour tissues. In order to estimate the best target for therapy, more information is required about the relative abundance of Zn, Fe and Cu binding proteins, their oxidation state and their localisation at the subcellular level. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.