Relationship between CA 15-3 serum levels and disease extent in predicting overall survival of breast cancer patients with newly diagnosed metastatic disease

Abstract

In order to study the relationship between circulating levels of CA 15-3 and the disease extent in predicting survival, we prospectively followed 312 breast cancer (BC) patients, from October 1988 to March 1995, from the time of first relapse. CA 15-3 values were assessed before treatment onset. Disease extent was defined as the percentage of liver or lung involvement and the number of bone segments positive at scintigraphy. The covariates were primary tumour characteristics (T, N and hormone receptor status) and patient characteristics at recurrence (menopause, performance status and age). Higher CA 15-3 serum levels were found in patients with visceral metastases or with pleural effusion. A logistic regression model selected disease extent in liver, lung and bone as independent variables for the determination of abnormal CA 15-3 values. Univariate survival analysis confirmed the positive prognostic influence of low CA 15-3 serum levels, absence of visceral metastases and the presence of only one metastatic site. Multivariate Cox's survival analysis selected disease extent in liver, lung, bone and soft tissue but not level of CA 15-3 as prognostic factors. In conclusion, CA 15-3 is not an independent variable in determining survival, its prognostic role being linked to the disease extent. This association suggests that CA 15-3 may be useful in assessing disease extent when this is not easily assessable.

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity can be induced by MUC1 peptide vaccination of breast cancer patients

“…3 In the vast majority of human adenocarcinomas this protein is over-expressed and hypo-glycosylated 4 exposing an immunodominant repetitive amino acid sequence. The overproduction and secretion of MUC1 is correlated with the progression of breast, 5 ovarian 6,7 and colon 8 carcinoma. In breast cancer patients MUC1 serum levels are used to monitor therapy and for early detection of recurrences.…”

Relationships among Serum CA15-3 Tumor Marker, TNM Staging, and Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Expression in Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions

“…Clinical uses of this marker include monitoring of patients with breast cancer (Duffy, 1999;Duffy et al, 2006), prognosis (McLaughlin et al, 2000), recurrence (Busetto et al, 1995;Molina et al, 1996;Molina et al, 1999) and metastasis (Elston et al, 1999;Thompson et al, 1991). CA15-3 level correlate exclusively with tumor size; higher CA15-3 serum level was found in advanced cancer stages, higher grades and metastasis (Berruti et al, 1994;Gang et al, 1985;Kikuchi et al, 1987;Theriault et al, 1989Theriault et al, :2007Tampellini et al, 1997;Gion et al, 2002). CA15-3 level increased in 10% stage I breast cancer disease, 20% stage II disease, 40% stage III disease, and 75% with stage IV disease (Duffy 2006).…”

Prognostic Significance of Circulating Tumor Cells and Serum CA15-3 Levels in Metastatic Breast Cancer, Single Center Experience, Preliminary Results

“…The authors also reported that disease free survival of the patients with CA15.3 levels of 40 U/ml was half of those exhibiting normal levels of CA15.3 . Another study by Tampellini et al demonstrated that median OS of the patients whose CA15.3 value was ≤30 kilounits at the time of metastasis was longer than those with higher CA15.3 level (Tampellini et al, 1997). On the other hand a study conducted by De La Lande et al revealed that the time between the diagnose of breast cancer and detection of high levels of CA15.3 is prognostically significant (De La Lande et al, 2002).…”