Abstract
Early detection of breast cancer (BC) is a global target to reduce mortality and morbidity also to improve therapeutic and survival outcomes. Currently, mammography is the gold standard in BC diagnosis followed by biopsy when warranted. Thymidine Kinase 1 (TK1) is a proliferative biomarker that succeeded in discovering premalignant transformations of breast cancer before the appearance of any symptoms. This study aimed to provide a non-invasive method to early detect BC by measuring TK1 in sera of women with breast lesions alongside mammography. The study included 271 women divided into five BIRADS categories. Methods and Material: only one blood sample was collected from each woman to detect TK1 concentration, before undergoing mammography and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) or true cut. Results: TK1 levels were significantly different between BI-RADS categories. It was correlated with clinical stage, histological grade, lymph node metastasis, and vascular invasion. TK1 levels could distinguish between healthy individuals and patients who had breast lesions with a sensitivity and a specificity as follows 91.3 and 87.5%, respectively. Furthermore, this test could discriminate between benign and malignant breast lesions with a sensitivity of 92.5% and a specificity of 91.2%. Conclusion: These findings suggest the determination of TK1 levels as a risk warning biomarker to improve early detection of BC.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BC) is considered the second major cancer among women worldwide [1]
The majority of them were in premenopausal status (69.7%) and most breast cancer patients had lymph nodes and vascular invasion (74.8% and 71%, respectively)
The clinicopathological characteristics of all women enrolled in the study, including age, menopausal status, BI-RADS categories, and BC patients involving histologic grade, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and vascular invasion are summarized in Tables (1 & 2)
Summary
Breast cancer (BC) is considered the second major cancer among women worldwide [1]. Late diagnosis of BC reduces survival and quality of life [2]. Early detection of the tumor is a prerequisite to effective treatment and to minimize morbidity and mortality rates of BC, as an early diagnosis in a localized site increases 5-year survival rates to 98% [3, 4]. Mammography is the gold standard in breast cancer diagnosis followed by biopsy when warranted [2]. The Breast Imaging and Reporting Data System (BI-RADS ®) is a number system that categorizes mammography results into seven categorizes from 0 through 6 [5]. As many previous studies displayed significant differences between radiologists’ interpretation of breast lesions as BI-RADS 3 [7]
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