Abstract
Detection of serum tumor markers has been developed as a non-invasive tool to assess treatment efficiency in different types of cancer. This study aims to investigate the role of preoperative serum tumor markers (CEA, CA125 and CA15-3) in the management of breast cancer, and their relationships with patients’ clinicopathological parameters as well as different molecular subtypes. Altogether, 151 patients with invasive breast cancer and 180 control subjects with benign breast diseases were enrolled in this study. In the present study, preoperative serum levels of CEA, CA125 and CA15-3 were significantly higher in patients with breast cancer than controls subjects. Moreover, late-stage cancer patients exhibited significantly higher levels of CEA, CA125 and CA15-3 compared with early-stage ones. Statistical analysis indicated that elevated CA125 and CA15-3 levels were obviously related to patients with larger tumor diameter (>5cm) and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, our results showed that the preoperative serum levels of CA125 exhibited statistical differences among various molecular subtypes, with the most frequent elevations occurring in the triple-negative tumors. In summary, our study indicated that the preoperative serum levels of CEA, CA125 and CA15-3 might be more efficient for monitoring advanced tumors than early diagnosis. High preoperative CA125 levels may reflect tumor burden and are associated with aggressive molecular subtype, suggesting that it can be used to predict poor outcome and prognosis of breast cancer patients.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy that affects females, accounting for 23% of all cancer deaths worldwide [1]
Preoperative serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 125 (CA125) and cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) were significantly higher in patients with breast cancer than controls subjects
Latestage cancer patients exhibited significantly higher levels of CEA, CA125 and CA15-3 compared with early-stage ones, suggesting that the serum levels of these tumor markers might be more efficient for monitoring advanced tumors than early diagnosis
Summary
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy that affects females, accounting for 23% of all cancer deaths worldwide [1]. It has been reported that an estimated 269,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed with nearly 70,000 cancer deaths in China in 2015, and its incidence has been steadily increasing [2]. The treatment of this multifactorial disease is closely related to patients’ clinicopathological factors, such as tumor size, lymph node involvement, hormone receptor status and HER-2 status. Breast cancer is considered to be a heterogeneous disease and mainly classified into four molecular subtypes, including Luminal A, Luminal B, HER-2/neu and triple-negative [3,4]. Individualized treatment based on molecular subtypes has become an important issue in breast cancer research
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