The importance of preoperative elevated serum levels of CEA and CA15-3 in patients with breast cancer in predicting its histological type.

Abstract

Material and methodsTumour samples. A total of 428 patients were treated at The Department of Surgery of Wroclaw Medical University from 2005 to 2008 due to the diagnosis of breast cancer. All of them had their preoperative CA 15-3 and CEA serum concentrations measured. In all patients tumours were invasive cancers in stages I-III, and the mean age of patients was 52.5 years (range 24-83 years). All the patients in the study were women and 54.5% of them were postmenopausal.Tumour markers. Studied tumour markers levels were measured by immunoassays: Enzymum test 300 using the cutoff value of 5 ng/ml for CEA and Enzymum-test CA 15-3 using the cutoff value of 40 units/ml for CA 15.3. Intra-and interassay variations for both markers were 5% and 10%, respectively. Measurements of serum concentrations of CEA and CA 15-3 were blinded. In all cases histological slides from paraffin wax embedded material Abstract: It is not known whether in patients with breast cancer the occurrence of elevated serum tumour markers depends on its histological type. The aim of the study was to assess relationship between breast cancer histological type and the presence of increased serum levels of CEA and CA 15-3. The study population was 428 patients (all women, mean age 52.5 years), treated at The Department of Surgery of Wroclaw Medical University from 2005 to 2008 due to breast cancer. All of them had their preoperative CA 15-3 and CEA serum concentrations measured. According to the TNM system, 21% of patients were in stage I, 32.5% in stage II, 46.5% in stage III of the disease. In patients with ductal type of the cancer the elevated serum levels of CEA and CA 15-3 were observed in 48.7% and 42.2%, in lobular type in 42.4% and 52.5%, and in non-ductal/tubular types in 48.1% and 40.4% (p=N/S). Stepwise logistic regression analyses showed that ductal breast cancer is related to elevated CEA and normal CA 15-3 serum levels. The histological types of breast cancer are not significantly related to elevated serum levels of CEA and/or CA 15-3.

Significance of serum vascular endothelial growth factor and cancer antigen 15.3 in patients with triple negative breast cancer

“…In the present study, VEGF was measured from the serum. 31,32 In our study also CA 15.3 levels showed a direct correlation with both tumour size (p 5 0?008) and stage of the disease (p 5 0?001) in all patients. 25 Some studies showed that platelet-poor plasma reflects more accurate tumour progression 26 whereas others found that serum VEGF gives a better indication of tumour progression.…”

Clinicopathological and Prognostic Significance of Cancer Antigen 15-3 and Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis including 12,993 Patients

“…CA15-3 and CEA have been reported to be associated with clinicopathological parameters [ 68 ]. Both the CA15-3 and CEA levels were elevated with a larger tumor size, positive lymph node metastasis, and advanced TNM stage.…”

Elevation of serum CEA and CA15‑3 levels during antitumor therapy predicts poor therapeutic response in advanced breast cancer patients

“…Despite extensive study of CEA and CA15-3, their utility as breast cancer markers remains unclear (10). The majority of tumor markers are used for early diagnosis, determining prognosis, monitoring therapeutic efficacy and follow-up subsequent to therapy (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). However, CEA and CA15-3 are unsuitable for early detection due to their low expression and lack of sensitivity in breast cancer (11,17).…”