Coenzyme Q10 and malignant melanoma progression:
Abnormally low coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) plasma levels may be a strong indicator of metastasis in patients with melanoma (skin cancer). Rusciani investigated the usefulness of predicting the risk of metastasis based on the CoQ10 plasma levels of patients with skin cancer. One hundred seventeen patients with primary cutaneous melanoma and 125 healthy volunteers were followed for 7.5 years. Researchers measured the plasma CoQ10 levels every three to six months, setting the threshold at 0.6mg/L to divide plasma CoQ10 levels into high and low groups. The results showed that 32.5% of the melanoma patients developed metastasis during the follow-up period and CoQ10 levels were significantly higher in the control group. The group of melanoma patients who developed metastasis had significantly lower values of CoQ10 levels than the patients who did not develop metastasis. These results indicated that baseline CoQ10 levels are a powerful and predictive factor that may be used to estimate the risk for melanoma progression. (27)