Abstract P2-10-06: Serum protein peak 3144m/z is a potential prognostic factor for postmenopausal breast cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract Background: Serum protein profiles have been investigated frequently to discover predicted or prognostic biomarkers for breast cancer. Our previous studies have shown that serum protein peak 3144m/z is significantly elevated in metastatic ovarian cancer and gastric cancer. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve obtained from metastatic ovarian cancer patients for differentially expressed protein peak 3144m/z showed when the cut-off value is 1.15, the sensitivity and specificity would be 65.4% and 91.4% respectively. Therefore, we investigated whether serum protein peak 3144m/z could be used as a potential prognostic tool for postmenopausal breast cancer, taking into account clinicopathological features. Methods: Two hundred and two postmenopausal breast cancer patients from June 2006 to December 2009 were involved in this retrospective study at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. Menopausal status of the cases was obtained through examination of the medical records. The histopathological type, lymph node metastasis, and hormone receptor status of the cases were determined by pathologists. All patients underwent conventional postsurgical treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endocrinotherapy and target therapy) and the serum samples were collected before treatment. Serum level of protein peak 3144m/z was assessed by surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). Prognostic factors (lymph node metastasis status, stage, hormone receptor status and molecular subtype) were compared across subgroups of patients depending on the protein peak 3144m/z levels. Cox proportional hazards regression was used for statistical analysis. Results: The precentage of cases with higher 3144m/z protein peak were 32.7%(66/202) in postmenopausal breast cancer patients. The serum protein peak 3144m/z was positively related to lymph node metastasis. However, there were no significant correlations between serum protein peak 3144m/z and other clinicopathological features, such as hormone receptor status, molecular subtype, clinical stage, pregnancy times and abortion history. Importantly, it was shown that patients with higher protein peak 3144m/z had significantly poorer overall survival compared with patients with lower serum protein peak 3144m/z (P = 0.0053). Furthermore, Cox multivariate regression analysis also revealed that protein peak 3144m/z was an independent prognostic factor in postmenopausal breast cancer patients (P = 0.008). Conclusions: The protein peak 3144m/z was a poor prognostic factor in postmenopausal breast cancer patients. Further prospective and longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate whether serum protein peak 3144m/z could be used as a prognostic tool in postmenopausal breast cancer patients monitoring and management. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P2-10-06.