Oral contraceptive use and salivary C-erbB-2, CEA and CA15-3 in healthy women: a case-control study.
OBJECTIVE
Oral contraceptives (OCP) are highly effective, safe and widely used. Higher exposure to endogenous and exogenous estrogens is generally thought to increase the risk of breast cancer. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine if oral contraceptive use affected the expression of CA 15-3, CEA and C-erb B-2 in the saliva of healthy women.


METHODS
The participants consisted of 87 healthy women (43 controls and 44 using oral contraceptives) ranging in age from 20 to 54 years. The volunteers participated by giving one - time stimulated whole saliva samples. Then the samples were analysed for CA 15-3, CEA and C-erb B-2 concentrations.


RESULTS
The student t-test was used to compare group means for variables with comparable variability. The mean of C-erb B-2, CEA, and CA 15-3 concentrations (in the case and control groups) was (1.93, 1.70), (34.46, 31.62) and (12.58, 16.19) respectively. These differences were not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the levels of the cancer biomarkers C-erb B-2, CEA and CA 15-3 were not affected by increased levels of estrogens in the body.
Vahedi
Mohammad
M
Department of Oral Medicine, Dental School, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Abdollahzadeh
Shermin
S
Vaziri
Pejman-Bakianian
PB
Mortazavi
Hamed
H
D000328:Adult; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000187:drug effects; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018396:Mucin-1 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000187:drug effects; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000187:drug effects; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D055815:Young Adult
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D018396:Mucin-1; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases