Background: The first aim of this project was to study new possibilities for distinguishing benign from malignant tumors using growth factors and to compare them with the traditional tumor markers Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and Cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) for breast tumors. The second aim was to make a comparison of CEA, CA 15-3, Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF1), Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 (IGFBP3), Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and Epidermal growth factor (EGF) for individual stages of cancer.
Patients and methods: Our group of patients consisted of 110 females, 89 with breast cancer and 21 with benign breast tumors (fibroadenomas). Serum levels of CEA and CA 15-3 were measured using a DxI instrument. Serum levels of IGF1 and IGFBP3 were measured using IRMA radioisotope assay kits. HGF and EGF were measured using an xMAP Luminex multiplex panel. Serum samples were collected prior to surgery and those of the two groups of patients were compared (malign vs. benign). Patients with diabetes mellitus were excluded from this project.
Results and discussion: Comparing the individual parameters of serum levels between the two groups of patients (malignant vs. benign) only HGF was found to show a statistically significant difference. The mean of HGF in patients with malignant diseases prior to surgery was 3370 pg/ml compared to 1799 pg/ml in benign tumors with p=0.0016. We found significantly lower serum values of IGF1 at stage III in comparison to stages I and II: mean values: at stage I=181 ng/ml, at stage II=182 ng/ml and at stage III=70 ng/ml; stage III vs. stage II, p=0.0167.
Conclusion: Tumor markers are currently used for therapy monitoring in cancer patients as one of the indicators of successful therapy. Our findings correspond to existing literature. IGF1 and its binding protein IGFBP3 cannot be used to distinguish between malignant and benign tumor. HGF is considered to be a marker of progression and of the aggressiveness of breast cancer; our data fully corresponds to this. Based on our data, this marker could potentially be used as an additional tool for the differentiation between benign and malignant tumor.