Abstract

Evaluation of CEA and CA15.3 as circulating tumor markers in breast cancer patients in and around coimbatore

Author(s): Sudha Sellappa, Shibily Prathyumnan, Sangeetha Raman

Tumormarkers are biochemical signs of tumor existence and consist of cell surface antibodies, cytoplasm proteins, enzymes and hormones. The present study was performed to compare the level of CEA and CA15.3 as circulating tumor markers in breast cancer patients.Among 97 breast cancer subjects selected for the study, the levels of CEA and CA15.3 were observed in various stages of breast cancer. Mean level of CEA and CA15.3 were quantitatively determined by EIA. The finding revealed a statistical (p<0.05) elevation in the level of CEA in stage IV (100.00%) followed by stage III (53.84%) and stage II (33.33%). On comparison, the CA15.3 is considered to be the best to detect the early stages of breast cancer than CEA.Measuring the levels of CA15.3 and CEA canbe helpful for early diagnosis.