immunological study of certain tumour markers in breast cancer

ABSTRACT

One of the significant recent advances in cancer diagnosis has been the discovery of several soluble tumour associated substances which can be assayed in patient's serum. The serum level of carcinoembryonic antigen [CEM], alpha1 acid glycoprotein [alpha1 AG] and complement fraction 3 [C[3]] are changed following breast carcinoma and such change can be used as a screening test for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. In the present study, forty patients were studied. Twenty patients were suffering from cancer breast and the other twenty patients were suffering from benign tumours in the breast. CEA, alpha1 AG and C[3] were determined using radial immunodiffusion technique for alpha1 AG and C[3], while CEA was determined by the enzyme immunoassay [ELISA]. Serum CEA, alpha1 AG and C[3] determination showed a significant increase in cancer breast patients whereas significant difference was detected in the serum level of alpha1 AG and C[3] between the benign breast lesions patients and control group. A significant difference was detected in seum CEA, level between benign group and control group. It is tempting to postulate that serum level of CEA, alpha1 AG and C[3] may be used as biological markers for diagnosis of breast cancer