SEROMUCOID FRACTION - A USEFUL BIOMARKER FOR PATIENTS WITH BREAST-CANCER

Seromucoid fraction was measured in terms of mucoid proteins (MPI and hexose content from sera of 1) 47 healthy women, 2) 48 women who had b enign breast diseases, 3) 151 unheated patients with breast cancer, an d 4) 245 follow-up samples collected from the same breast cancer patie nts. Mucoid proteins and hexose levels were found to be signifi cantly elevated in untreated patients with breast cancer when compared with the healthy participants (p < 0.001) and patients who had benign breas t diseases (p < 0.02 and p < 0.05, respectively). Receiver operating c haracteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed potential diagnostic appli cation of both markers for breast cancer. A good correlation was obser ved between favorable treatment response and decline in serum-marker l evels. The markers in patients who did not respond to anticancer thera py remained stable or increased during follow-up. These data indicate that seromucoid fraction can be an useful biochemical marker for breas t cancer patients.