Serum levels of carcino-embryonic antigen and CA15-3 in patients with early stage breast cancer before surgery and their correlation with pathological features

Abstract

Objective To detect and analyze the levels of preoperative serum carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) and CA15-3 in early invasive breast cancer patients and their correlation with pathological parameters. Methods Electrochemical luminescence immunoassay (ECLI) technology was used to detect serum levels of CEA and CA15-3 in 223 cases of early invasive breast cancer patients, 109 patients with benign lesions, and 30 cases of heath control. Immunohistochemical (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used to detect the estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone recepter (PR), and its HER-2 pathological indicators.Besides, the correlation of serum CA15-3, CEA levels and pathological parameters was analyzed. Results The serum CA15-3 and CEA levels of Breast cancer patients [(22.27±15.11) U/ml, (5.03±0.49) μg/L] were significantly higher than that of patients in benign lesion group[(14.13±3.04) U/ml, (2.72±0.11) μg/L] (P 0.05). CEA positive rate of breast cancer group was significantly higher than that of benign lesions(13.5 % vs. 3.7 %, 26.5 % vs. 1.8 %, P < 0.05). 30 cases of normal control group had no positive one. The joint monitoring sensitivity of CEA and CA15-3 breast cancer group was 9.4 %, the sensitivity was 0 in benign lesion group. There was significant difference (P < 0.05). Conclusion The changes of Serum CA15-3 and CEA levels in breast cancer patients can be considered as the judgment standard for early diagnosis, pathological staging, prognosis and clinical effect monitoring. Key words: Breast neoplasms; Tumor marker; CA15-3; Carcino-embryonic antigen; Pathology