title: Comparison of serum beta 2-microglobulin and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in the follow-up of breast cancer patients.
abstract: Using commercially available radioimmune test kits, serial determinations of serum beta 2-microglobulin and CEA were performed in 337 patients, who had been treated for breast cancer by modified radical mastectomy and radiotherapy. The pre-therapeutic data indicated a higher incidence of pathological beta 2-microglobulin and CEA levels in patients with distant metastases than in patients with localized disease. However, this finding did not allow the conclusion of a direct complementarity of beta 2-microglobulin and CEA as tumour markers, since the group of patients with distant metastasis contained a high percentage of elderly patients who generally can be expected to have elevated beta 2-microglobulin serum concentrations. Therefore, the correlation of the clinical course of malignant disease and the incidence of relapses with the changes of serum beta 2-microglobulin and CEA concentrations was examined during the post-treatment surveillance: 7/9 cases (78%) with local recurrence and 46/73 cases (63%) with distant spread of disease were not indicated in the beta 2-microglobulin follow-up by pathologic serum concentrations, whereas in the CEA follow-up only 1/9 and 2/73 false negative indications were registered. The poor correlation suggests that serum beta 2-microglobulin is not directly tumour associated in breast cancer and does not fulfill the criteria of a tumour marker.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001609:Beta-Globulins / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D013997:Time Factors; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001609:Beta-Globulins; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin