Fig. 1

Overview of the study design. A total of 150 cases, including 60 controls and 90 primary gastrointestinal cancer patients without anti-tumor treatments (30 with gastric cancer, 30 with liver cancer and 30 with colorectal cancer) were involved in our study. Plasma was isolated to detect the oxidative stress parameter and the levels of cytokines. PBMCs was isolated to detect the level of ROS, mtROS, MMP, ATP content, the mtDNA copy number and apoptosis. PBMCs, peripheral blood mononuclear cells; T-AOC, total antioxidant capacity; GSH-Px, glutathione peroxidase; MDA, malondialdehyde; IL-2, interleukin 2; IL-6, interleukin 6; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α; TNF-β, tumor necrosis factor β; IgG, immunoglobulin G; MMP, mitochondrial membrane potential; ROS, reactive oxygen species; ATP, adenosine triphosphate