TISSUE POLYPEPTIDE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN (TPS) IN BREAST-CANCER - AN INITIAL EVALUATION

Tissue Polypeptide Specific-Antigen (TPS), a marker of cell proliferat ion, was evaluated in 258 patients, 216 with breast carcinoma and 42 w ith benign breast disease, TPS was measured pre-operatively in 98 pati ents and correlated with stage of disease showing a progression from S tage I through to Stage IV disease, TPS increased with increasing tumo ur size, however, TPS levels did not correlate with the number of invo lved lymph nodes, TPS was measured during follow-up in 118 patients, 6 4 had no evidence of recurrence, 23 had evidence of loco-regional recu rrence and 31 had evidence of metastatic disease, TPS levels were sign ificantly elevated in all categories of recurrence and were highest in patients with disseminated disease, Patients with elevated TPS during follow-up mere more likely to experience disease progression on furth er follow-up, This preliminary study demonstrates that this marker may be useful as an index of tumour burden and deserves further evaluatio n in a large population to determine whether it can aid in the identif ication and follow-up of patients with recurrent disease.