Evaluation Of Aminoterminal Propeptide Of Type â…¢ Procollagen (P â…¢ NP) In Diagnosis And Recurrence Determination With Breast Cancer

Objectives The utility of serum Pâ…¢NP in diagnosis and recurrence determination in breast cancer patients was evaluated in this study. CA15-3 was used as a reference indicator.Methods A total of 58 breast cancer patients who were operated and followed up successfully (for 1 to 2 years) were investigated. 39 of them had no postoperative recurrence and 6 (including 3 patients with liver metastases, 2 with bone metastases and 1 with lung metastasis) had recurrent breast cancer. I to IV stage patients were 11,19, 15 and 13 cases separately. Control group were 29 healthy women. The sera from 58 patients with breast cancer and 29 healthy individuals were measured for Pâ…¢NP and CA15-3 using radioimmunoassay(RIA). The recurrent and metastatic patients of breast cancer were detected periodically by imaging methods.Results The mean Pâ…¢NP values of patients in different tumor stages were significantly higher than that of healthy individuals and were gradually increased with the advanced tumor stages. The serum Pâ…¢NP in patients without tumor relapsed were significantly lower after operation than that of themselves before operation. There was no significant difference between the preoperated and postoperated serum Pâ…¢NP values in the group with recurrent breast cancer and in the IV stage group. The sensitivities of Pâ…¢NP for diagnosis in I to TV stages breast cancer were 36. 4%, 89. 5%, 100% and 100%, respectively. The validity were 75% , 89. 6% , 93. 2% and 92. 9% .respectively. The total specificity,sensitivity and validity of Pâ…¢NP were 89. 7% ,84. 5% and 86. 2%. Combination use of Pâ…¢NP and CA15-3 improved the sensitivity to 93. 1% ,but the specificity of combination use of these two tumor markers was 89. 7%, which was not significant difference with that of Pâ…¢NP or CA15-3. The serum Pâ…¢NP predicted the recurrent malignancy 6 to 9 months earlier than imaging methods and 3 months earlier than CA15-3.Conclusion 1. Serum Pâ…¢NP was closely related to tumor stages and may be an important reference index for diagnosis of breast cancer. 2. Pâ…¢NP was the sensitive index for the recurrence breast cancer. The continuous increasing of Pâ…¢NP level in postoperated patients showed the possibility of recurrence. 3. The sensitivity, specificity and validity for diagnosis of breast cancer were no significant difference between CA15-3 and P IIINP, but Pâ…¢NP was superior to CA15-3 for the detection of metastases in IV stage breast cancer. Combination use of Pâ…¢NP and CA15-3 improved the sensitivity for diagnosis of breast cancer, but the specificity was not decreased.