SOURCE:

Faculty: Medicine
Department: Immunology

CONTRIBUTORS:

Chukwurah, E. F.
Emele, F. E.

ABSTRACT:

The incidence of breast cancer is increasingworldwide and it has some genetic variables as a result of environmental and other factors. Tumour markers are widely recognized as important tools in the evaluation and management of patients with cancer but additional biomarkers relevant to developing countries will provide additional support. This study evaluated the detection, diagnosis and prognostic potentials of biomarkers such as circulating immune complexes (CIC), cancer antigens (CA15-3 and CA 27.29), immunoglobulins (IgG, IgM and IgA) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1) in patients with malignant and benign breast tumours. A total of 42 treatment-naïve female patients that presented with breast tumour were prospectively recruited to the study between October, 2012 and February, 2015, apparently healthy sex and aged-matched individuals as controls. Sample size was calculated using the prevalence rate of 1.16% as previously reported. Diagnosis and staging were clinically and pathologically confirmed. Patients with malignant tumours were further grouped into early stage (stages 1and 2) and advanced stage (stages 3 and 4) breast cancer. Patients who presented with any form of cancer or were on any form of cancer treatment (surgery/radiotherapy/chemotherapy) prior to diagnosis were excluded. All recruited subjects were investigated for biomarkers; breast tumour cases (benign and malignant) were subsequently subjected to standard treatment modalities (neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemoradiation and/ or surgery- depending on the stage of presentation). Follow-up investigations for biomarkers were carried out on the subjects at 3 and 6 month’s intervals after treatment. Assays for CIC, cytokines, cancer antigens and immunoglobulins classes were made by solid phase sandwich immunoenzymatic methods, employing automated kits. Results show that 90% of the breast cancer patients were married with children and 78% had no history of cancer in the families. Mean pre-treatment value of 128±18.4U/ml was recorded for CA 15-3 (in advanced stage breast cancer group) compared with 40±6.3U/ml recorded for control group. Overall, tumour of all forms recorded significantly higher pre-treatment mean values for CA 15-3 and CA 27.29, compared with control group. There were also significantly higher mean values for CA15-3 and CA 27.29 at pre-treatment evaluation than follow-up 6 months later (p˂0.05). On the contrary, therapeutic interventions did not significantly affect the mean values for CIC, IgM, IgG, IgA and pro-inflammatory cytokines (p˂0.05). Cancer antigens (CA 15-3 and CA 27.29) presented promising diagnostic and prognostic potentials in breast cancers. Markers such as CIC, immunoglobulins and pro-inflammatory cytokines appeared to be of limited diagnostic value in our environment.