Increased alpha-fetoprotein receptor in the serum of patients with early-stage breast cancer

• Published in: Current oncology (Toronto) 2012-02, Vol.19 (1), p.e1-8
• Main Authors: Moro, R, Gulyaeva-Tcherkassova, J, Stieber, P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancer Biomarkers
• ISSN: 1718-7729; 1198-0052; 1718-7729
• DOI: 10.3747/co.19.979

The alpha-fetoprotein (afp) receptor (recaf) is an oncofetal antigen found in most types of cancer. Using a competitive radioimmunoassay, we measured the concentration of serum recaf in three sets of samples.Set 1 was blind and consisted of 119 normal subjects, 43 breast cancer patients (stages i and ii), and 20 patients with benign breast conditions. In this set, the assay discriminated normal from cancer samples with a receiver operating characteristic for the area under the curve (ROC(AUC)) of 0.983; with 95% specificity and 93% sensitivity at a cut-off of 4.6 K (arbitrary) recaf units; and with 72% sensitivity and 100% specificity at a cut-off of 7.3 K units. At 7.3 K units, the specificity for benign breast conditions was 85%, and the sensitivity was 72% (ROC(AUC) was 0.773). Carcinoembryonic antigen and cancer antigen 15-3 respectively showed 39% and 41% sensitivity, with 95% specificity in comparisons of normal with cancer samples, and 34% and 44% sensitivity, with 85% specificity in comparisons of benign with cancer samples. Set 2 consisted of 353 normal, 30 benign, and 64 cancer samples (stages ii and iii). The recaf assay sensitivity in discriminating normal from cancer samples was 97%, with 97% specificity. Benign compared with cancer samples showed 87% sensitivity, with 97% specificity. Set 3 included only 40 normal and 40 cancer samples. The assay sensitivity was 89%, with 100% specificity. Sets 2 and 3 were not tested with carcinoembryonic antigen and cancer antigen 15-3.These results strongly suggest that the recaf assay could be used for detecting breast cancer in its early stages.