Do serum angiogenic growth factors provide additional information to that of conventional markers in monitoring the course of metastatic breast cancer?
OBJECTIVE
Our work evaluated the potential role of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) serum levels with respect to that of conventional serum tumour markers, CEA and CA 15-3, in monitoring the course of metastatic breast cancer in 56 female patients treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy.


METHODS
VEGF and bFGF concentrations were determined using a quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique. The positive predictive value (PPV) of each marker and of marker combinations for different types of clinical response was calculated.


RESULTS
The highest PPV for overall disease control was shown by bFGF (70%), which also showed the highest PPV for both partial response (36.4%) and stable disease (63.2%). CEA showed the highest predictive value for progression (69.2%). A combined increase in CEA and bFGF or VEGF was associated with disease progression in all patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Information provided by angiogenic factor levels seems to be independent of and is possibly complementary to that provided by conventional serum markers. bFGF showed the maximum predictive value for disease control and provided additional information to that obtained from CEA or CA 15-3 evaluation. It could therefore be a promising candidate for monitoring response to chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer.
Granato
Anna Maria
AM
Istituto Oncologico Romagnolo, Forlì, Italy.
Frassineti
Giovanni Luca
GL
Giovannini
Noemi
N
Ballardini
Michela
M
Nanni
Oriana
O
Maltoni
Roberta
R
Amadori
Dino
D
Volpi
Annalisa
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D042501:Angiogenic Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*
D042501:Angiogenic Proteins; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2