Serum levels of Hemorphin-7 peptides in patients with breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Increased expression of cathepsin D (CD) and B (CB) is found in some cancers and correlates with the development of clinical metastases. It was suggested that these cathepsins could be used as prognostic markers, especially CD in breast cancer. Because serum level of Hemorphin-7 (H7) peptides could reflect CD activity, we have hypothesised that it could be used as a prognostic factor in breast cancer.


METHODS
To verify this hypothesis, H7 serum levels from 62 breast cancer patients and 25 healthy controls were measured by ELISA.


RESULTS
The mean serum concentration of H7 was 2.27+/-0.63 mumol/l in breast cancer patients in comparison with 4.09+/-1.05 mumol/l in controls (p=0.002). This reduced level of H7 in breast cancer could be due to the over-expression of CB, which exhibits strong interaction with H7 in vitro, with a ratio K(cat)/K(m) estimated at 18000 s(-1) M(-1).


CONCLUSIONS
Because H7 serum levels did not correlate with other parameters including age, CA15-3 and ACE markers, it seems that they might be used as independent markers for the diagnosis of breast cancer.
Laboratoire de Génie Protéique et Cellulaire, EA 3169, Pôle Sciences et Technologie, Bâtiment Marie Curie, Avenue Michel Crépeau, Université de La Rochelle, UFR Sciences, 17042 La Rochelle cedex 1, France.
Marie
M
Cohen
Ingrid
I
Fruitier-Arnaudin
Richard
R
Sauvan
Daniel
D
Birnbaum
Jean-Marie
JM
Piot
D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002401:Cathepsin B / Q000378:metabolism; D002402:Cathepsin D / Q000378:metabolism; D002417:Cattle; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D018396:Mucin-1 / Q000097:blood; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D006454:Hemoglobins; C487535:LVV-hemorphin-5; D018396:Mucin-1; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C487536:VV-hemorphin-5; C049858:hemorphin 5; C085122:hemorphin 7; C074309:LVV-hemorphin-7; C094394:VV-hemorphin-7; D002401:Cathepsin B; D002402:Cathepsin D