Apoptosis-related biomarkers sFAS, MIF, ICAM-1 and PAI-1 in serum of breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves surgical options and prognosis in patients with operable breast cancer. Predictive biomarkers are needed to choose the most effective therapy and to avoid unnecessary toxicity. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed the courses of apoptosis-related serum biomarkers macrophage migration-inhibitory factor (MIF), soluble cell death receptor sFAS, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) as well as the oncological biomarkers carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) in prospectively collected sera of 51 patients with locally confined breast cancer undergoing preoperative chemotherapy. As controls 31 healthy women, 13 patients with benign breast disease and 28 patients with metastasized breast cancer were included. RESULTS sFAS, MIF, CEA and CA15-3 showed significantly higher serum concentrations in patients with metastasized breast cancer than in healthy and benign controls. Additionally, sFAS and MIF discriminated between locally confined breast cancer and healthy controls with an area under the curve (AUC) in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of 73.4% and 70.7%. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 38 patients achieved complete (N=9) or partial (N=29) remission, while 13 patients had no change of disease. Pretherapeutic levels of MIF were considerably higher in non-responsive patients (p=0.082). In addition, post-therapeutic sICAM and CA15-3 levels were higher in patients without complete remission. CONCLUSION Apoptosis-related biomarkers are valuable markers in breast cancer patients and show potential for early estimation of the efficiency of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.