Chemiluminometric determination of tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA), cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in comparison withvascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in follow-up of breast cancer

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) , cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were mea sured in 314 sera of breast cancer patients and in 58 sera of women without breast cancer. VEGF was determined using a sandwich enzyme immunoassay tec hnique (ELISA) and the tumour markers TPA, CA 15-3 and CEA with an immunolu minometric assay (ILMA). The breast cancer patients were staged according t o the TNM classification stages 0-IV (by UICC) in patient groups with a com patible prognosis. Median and range of each stage were investigated. The cu t-off values (95th and 97.5th percentile of control group) of VEGF, TPA, CA 15-3 and CEA were determined; sensitivities for each parameter and for all combinations of two parameters were investigated for these cut-offs and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated. The differ ences between the control group and stages 0-3 were shown to be non-signifi cant for CA 15-3 and CEA but significant for VEGF and TPA. Significant diff erences were found in stage 4 for VEGF and all three markers. The increase in sensitivity of VEGF from stage 0 to stage 3 and the decrease from stage 3 to stage 4 can be interpreted based on the role of VEGF in the angiogenes is. The quantification of VEGF could give additional information for select ing patients for systemic adjuvant therapy. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.