FBL BLOOD-TEST AS A PREDICTIVE MARKER OF BREAST-CANCER IN HIGH-RISK WOMEN

The potential use of the ferritin bearing lymphocytes (FBL) blood test which enumerates oncofetal FBL as a biomarker for early breast cancer was explored. Analysis of the FBL positive test results carried out o n high risk women who underwent biopsy in 1983-84 was found to be a si gnificant predictor for early breast cancer (relative risk (RR)=2.9, 9 5% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-5.8). A group of 635 women from the ab ove study diagnosed in 1983-84 as having no evidence of breast cancer was further traced 8 years later with the aid of the National Cancer R egistry. We identified 35 malignancies, including 19 cases of breast c ancer. The RR of breast cancer for the FBL positive group was 2.51; 95 % CI=1.04-6.07 while for the other malignancies it was 0.93, 95% CI=0. 30-2.84. All the breast cancer cases in the FBL positive group were of the infiltrative duct carcinoma category and 71%, were in early stage . In contrast, in the FBL negative group, 60% of the cases were infilt rative ductal carcinoma and most of them were at stage III. Positive F BL is associated with early manifestation of breast cancer and may be considered as a tool for the screening of breast cancer in high risk w omen.