Relationship between preoperative serum CA 15-3 and CEA levels and clinicopathological parameters in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND CEA and CA 15.3 serum tumor markers are currently used in clinical practice for monitoring therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum level of these markers among healthy females and invasive breast carcinoma (IBC) patients and to determine any relationships with clinicopathological factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS 60 Iranian females were enrolled in this study, 30 healthy and 30 diagnosed with breast cancer who had not received any preoperative chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays were used for the quantitative determination of the cancer associated antigens, CEA and MUC1 (CA 15- 3). RESULTS The serological levels of CEA and CA 15-3 (5.0033 ± 0.49 μg/L and 178.1667 ± 15.11 U/ml) in the breast cancer patients were significantly higher (p=0.00) than the serum levels of normal controls (1.1237 ± 0.11 μg/L and 21.13 ± 3.058 U/ml). Regarding the CEA marker, a significant correlation with grade of tumor was shown. Furthermore, there was a low correlation between CA 15-3 and CEA marker with correlation coefficient r=0.08. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, markedly high levels of CEA and CA 15-3 were found in our patients, pointing to their use as additional tools after clinical diagnosis.