Serum bFGF (basic fibroblast growth factor) and CA 15.3 in the monitoring of breast cancer patients

Background. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a potent angiogenetic factor which may influence breast cancer evolution. Materials and methods. Serum bFGF, (cut-off 10 pg/ml), was assayed in 166 breast cancer patients a t all stages and compared with CA 15.3. Results. In 99 pre-treatment (PT) s era, 39/99 (39.4 %) were bFGF positive, 9/99 (9.1 %) CA 15.3 positive (>30 U/ml), and not correlated No correlations were found between bFGF and age, menopausal status, TNM or pTNM, histology, SBR grading or steroid receptors . A post-operative decline in bFGF positivity, from 30.8 to 7.7 % (n=39), w as observed. An abnormal CA 15.3 after primary treatment (n=2/39) was of ba d prognosis (P<0.0001), whereas positive bFGF (n=3/39) had no univariate pr ognostic value (median follow-up 5.5 years). During follow-up, positive bFG F was recorded in 6/92 (6.5%) disease-free patients (DFS), 13/15 (86.7%) re gressions, 8/16 (50.0%) stable disease, and 46/67 (68.7%) progressive disea se (significant differences between PT or DFS and post recurrence levels (P <0.001), and between relapse before and after treatment (P=0.002)). Conclus ion. Serum bFGF is more often elevated before treatment or after relapse th an in DFS, and rises under systemic treatments. Its pattern of variations d oes not add to CA 15.3 for breast cancer monitoring.