Plasma Circulating Cell-free Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA as Potential Blood Biomarkers for Breast Cancer

Incidence rates of breast cancer are rising and mortality rates are proportionally high in Arab countries compared to rates in developed countries. The common late diagnosis among Arab women has been related to the low participation rates of Arab women in breast cancer screening activities (Donnelly et al., 2012). In Egypt, breast cancer is still considered number one killing cancer in females despite increased general awareness of the disease. Dubey et al, reported that the incidence of breast cancer in Egypt at 2012 was 18,660 newly diagnosed cases and out of this the mortality rates was estimated at 7,161. This indicated the fact that the situation of breast cancer in Egypt is almost worst like India (Dubey et al., 2015). In breast cancer, the role of serum markers is less well established. The most widely used serum markers are CA 15-3 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (Banin et al., 2014). CA 15-3 is elevated in 69% of advanced breast cancer cases; its role in cancer screening is limited, being elevated in other malignancies including pancreatic (Hampton, 2007), ovarian (Zachariah et al., 2008), lung