Breast Cancer Tumor Markers

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women and second leading cause of cancer death among American women. In 2009, approximately 194,280 patients are estimated to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and 62,280 of carcinoma in situ. An estimated 40,610 will die of this disease. For a woman of average risk, the incidence of breast cancer is one in eight.

 

tumor markers in breast cancer in clinical use include CA 15-3, CEA (antigen carcinoembyonic), and CA 27-29. All have a low sensitivity and specificity, and therefore not useful in detecting breast cancer early. CA 15-3 levels are elevated in approximately 5-30% of patients with stage 1 disease, 15-50% of stage 2, 60-70% of stage 3 and stage 4 65-90%. CA 15-3 measures are also high in 15 -20% of women with benign breast conditions, 50-60% with liver disease, lung cancer 20-70%, 15-60% of GI / cancer colon, and 40-60% of cases of ovarian cancer. CEA is more frequent in colorectal cancer, whereas CA 27-29 is more specific to breast cancer. These three tumor markers, however, have been validated for the monitoring of treatment in patients with advanced, especially if the cancer can be assessed with conventional imaging. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends the use of CEA, CA 15-3 and CA 27-29 in metastatic settings, while the European group on tumor markers recommends their use in disease surveillance General.

With current technology, circulating tumor cells were found in very rare cases of breast cancer at early stage. Detected circulating tumor cells in both localized and metastatic breast cancer were associated with worse outcome. Circulating tumor cells can also predict response to treatment.

There is much research underway to investigate new biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer. Based markers include blood cells, DNA, RNA, peptides, sugars, and autoantibodies. breast markers, such as the nipple / breast ductal fluid and fine needle aspiration (FNA) also include cells, DNA, RNA, proteins, sugars, and autoantibodies.

 

In the future, it is likely that the combination of an approach to simultaneously measure many markers would be most successful in detecting breast cancer early. Ideally, such a panel of biomarkers should be able to detect breast cancer in asymptomatic patients, and improve the accuracy of mammography screening. A reliable biomarker signature may also mean new breast cancer, even in the context of normal mammograms and physical examinations, and also indicate more intensive diagnostic evaluation and / or preventive treatment.