title: C-erbB-2 protein in the sera of breast cancer patients.
abstract: The c-erbB-2 protein was measured in sera of patients with breast cancer or benign breast diseases to study the significance of this protein as a tumor marker. The mean value and positive rate for this protein (assuming 20U/ml as the cut-off value) were 11.8 U/ml (0%) in benign breast disease (n = 30), 11.8 U/ml (3.1%) in stage I/II primary breast cancer (n = 64), 38.2 U/ml (29.4%) in stage III/IV primary breast cancer (n = 17), 17.9 U/ml (33.3%) in locally recurrent breast cancer (n = 12), 298.4 U/ml (51.0%) in recurrent breast cancer with distant metastases (n = 51), and 12.9 U/ml (0%) in those with no evidence of recurrence (n = 57). Thus, the serum c-erbB-2 protein level was significantly higher in the distant metastatic group. In patients with distant metastases, there was a close association between expression of c-erbB-2 protein in the primary tumor and the serum c-erbB-2 protein level. On the basis of these results, serum c-erbB-2 protein was thought to be useful as a tumor marker for postoperative monitoring of breast cancer, especially in patients positive for expression of this protein in primary cancer tissue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Funahashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takagi
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases