The Clinical Value Of Peripheral Blood Her-2 MRNA In Breast Cancer

Objective: Breast cancer is a prevalent malignant cancer worldwide,and a lack of defined biomarkers for early prognostication contributes to its high associated mortality rate,especially in Her-2-positive breast cancer.In this study,we detected Her-2 mRNA levels in patients before surgery and during neoadjuvant chemotherapy to explore its potential diagnostic and prognostic value.Methods: Blood samples were collected from 70 patients with breast cancer,including 50 Her-2-negative and 20 Her-2-positive patients,before and after surgery(postoperative,n = 13;neoadjuvant chemotherapy,n = 5);the control group included 35 samples from healthy individuals.5 ml of peripheral blood was stored in a vacuum tube containing RNA protection solution developed by Gene Pharma,and stored in 4 ?.The relative mRNA level of Her-2 in blood was determined by one-step reverse transcription q PCR.Her-2 expression curves of measurements taken during neoadjuvant chemotherapy were compared with the tumor size.Results: A significant difference in the blood Her-2 mRNA level was observed between healthy women and patients with breast cancer(p < 0.0001).A cutoff of 1.512 was established for the circulating Her-2 level in healthy subjects based on the upper 95% confidence interval value of samples from the control group.Based on Her-2 status in tumor tissues,the optimized cutoff for peripheral blood Her-2 mRNA positivity in preoperative patients was 1.72.The level of Her-2 mRNA in blood was associated with the Her-2 status,Ki-67 expression,and lymphovascular invasion in primary tumor tissue samples;however,there was no association with the lymph node status,tumor stage,tumor grade,tumor size,patient age,or estrogen or progesterone receptor status of the primary tumor.Her-2 mRNA levels were associated with the response rate,as determined by primary tumor size,in patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Conclusion: Baseline and early changes in peripheral blood Her-2 mRNA indicated that Her-2 mRNA may be a potential diagnostic biomarker for breast cancer and a prognostic marker for predicting the efficacy of neoadjuvant therapy.