Prospective multicentric study of pre-operative circulating markers in primary breast cancer staged M0

In our Country, several circulating glycoproteins as CEA, CA125, CA153, MCA and others are currently measured in breast cancer (BC) patients. At the time of first diagnosis of M0 BC, no relationship was found in our first prospective multicentric study (The Breast 5 37-40, 1996). At present, we investigated preoperative CEA, CA125, CA153, CA549, CA199, MCA in 360 BC women. Median age was 59 years (range 26-83). The diagnosis was histologically proven primary BC and the stage was I to III. No relationship was found between CEA, CA549, CA199, MCA, TNM stage and histology. Relationships were found for the CA153 between pT1 vs. pT4 (p=0 008) and between stage [lib vs. I (p=0.029) and vs. IIA (p=0.030), for the CAI25 between pT4 vs. pTl-2 (p<0 001), between pNl vs. pNO (p=0.005) and between mb vs I, HA, IIB (p<0.001). Conclusions: only the CA125 and CA153 glycoproteins were related to the tumur extent. The role of CA125 was unexpected Most "classic" markers are probably totally not useful for the understanding of the primary breast cancer. Also owing to their cost, their pre-operative measurement in this setting seems not justified. Present results do not rule out the prospective use of markers in the follow-up of the single patient