CA 15-3 Value and Neoplastic Disease Predictivity in the Follow-Up for Breast Cancer

Abstract

The role of CA 15-3 in breast cancer has been widely studied by several authors. This study was designed to describe the predictivity of CA 15-3 determinations for the metastasis or second primary tumor in patients subjected to follow-up for breast cancer. All the 1,123 determinations of CA 15-3 carried out during 1991 in a hospital laboratory were analyzed. By cross-matching anagraphic items of patients with clinical data from different hospital databases, it was possible to reconstruct the clinical history. At the cutoff point of 40 U/ml, the positive predictive value of the CA 15-3 was 99.4%. This study shows the very close association between CA 15-3 ≥ 40.0 U/ml and disease, suggesting a careful restaging when the marker increases without clinical evidence of metastases. Hormonal treatment should also be considered.

Preoperative CA 15‐3 concentrations predict outcome of patients with breast carcinoma

“…[2][3][4][5][6] Currently, the main clinical application of CA 15-3 is for monitoring patients with diagnosed breast carcinoma and preclinically detecting recurrences. 7,8 In the current study we show that high concentrations of CA 15-3 at the time of initial presentation (i.e., preoperatively) predicts both a shortened disease free interval and overall survival.…”

Relationships among Serum CA15-3 Tumor Marker, TNM Staging, and Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Expression in Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions

“…Increased levels were observed in patients with breast cancer (Kobayashi et al, 1989). Clinical uses of this marker include monitoring of patients with breast cancer (Duffy, 1999;Duffy et al, 2006), prognosis (McLaughlin et al, 2000), recurrence (Busetto et al, 1995;Molina et al, 1996;Molina et al, 1999) and metastasis (Elston et al, 1999;Thompson et al, 1991). CA15-3 level correlate exclusively with tumor size; higher CA15-3 serum level was found in advanced cancer stages, higher grades and metastasis (Berruti et al, 1994;Gang et al, 1985;Kikuchi et al, 1987;Theriault et al, 1989Theriault et al, :2007Tampellini et al, 1997;Gion et al, 2002).…”