Clinical significance of serum copper/zinc ratio in diagnosis for recurrent breast cancer

To evaluate the ability of Cu/Zn ratio in diagnosis for recurrent breast ca ncer, 40 patients radically treated for breast carcinoma were studied. Of t hem, 13 cases were with recurrent breast cancer, 27 patients were free-recu rrent. Serum zinc and copper were determined by atomic absorption spectroph otometry, meanwhile serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were tested by enz yme linked immunosorbent assay, Significant higher serum Cu (120.9 +/- 43.4 vs 99.2 +/- 19.4 mu g/100ml) and lower Zn (68.7 +/- 18.9 vs 80.5 +/- 15.0 mu g/100ml) were observed in recurrent group (P>0.05) and serum copper/zinc (Cu/Zn) ratio was very significantly higher in recurrent group as compared to recurrent- free group (1.85 +/- 0.76 vs 1.26 +/- 0.28 P<0.001), In clin ic diagnosis for breast cancer recurrence, at a cutoff value of 1.54, serum copper/zinc(Cu/Zn) ratio had a sensitivity of 69%, specificity of 85%, and diagnostic index of 0.54. When serum copper/zinc( Cu/Zn) ratio combined wi th the level of serum (CEA) at the same time, the aforementioned value were raised to 91%, 75%, and 0.66, respectively. Ie was suggested that serum co pper/zinc(Cu/Zn) ratio, especially when it combined with CEA, may be helpfu l for the clinic diagnosis of breast cancer recurrence.