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Year:
2003
| Volume: 11
| Issue: 3
| Pages: 131-133
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Original Article |
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ELEVATED PLASMA LEVELS OF TGF-BETA1 IN PATIENTS WITH LOCALLY ADVANCED BREAST
ELEVATED PLASMA LEVELS OF TGF-BETA1 IN PATIENTS WITH LOCALLY ADVANCED BREAST CANCER RELATED TO OTHER CLINICAL STAGES
Natasa TODOROVIC-RAKOVIC, Vesna IVANOVIC, Miroslav DEMAJO, Zora NESKOVIC-KONSTANTINOVIC, Dragica NIKOLIC-VUKOSAVLJEVIC |
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DOI:
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Abstract: |
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Background: The application of plasma tumor markers is mainly during the follow-up of cancer patients and especially in monitoring of advanced disease. These biomarkers do not require surgical intervention and provide relatively simple monitoring at any time during the disease course. TGF-beta1 is a pluripotent cytokine, with diverse effects in normal physiology and a role in both normal mammary gland development and progression of breast cancer. In early stages of breast carcinomas TGF-beta1 acts as tumor suppressor, while in later stages, when tumor cells become resistant to growth inhibition by TGF-beta1, it acts as tumor promoter. For that reason, the aim of this study was to assess the stage-related TGF-beta1 elevation in circulation of breast cancer patients, during disease progression.
Methods: We analyzed 52 breast cancer patients of different stages (I/II, III, IV) and 36 healthy donors. TGF-beta1 levels were determined by enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA, R&D).
Results: Although there was no increase in plasma TGF-beta 1 in stage I/II patients (n=10, median value=0.89 ng/ml), statistically significant eleva- tion of plasma TGF-beta1 was found in locally advanced breast cancer (stage III, n=9, median value=2.30 ng/ml) and also in metastatic breast cancer (stage IV, n=33, median value=2.46 ng/ml) in relation to healthy donors and stage I/II.
Conclusion: This elevation of plasma TGF-beta1 in locally advanced breast cancer is probably the result of increased tumor mass and tumor-stromal interactions in this stage, as well as a possible cause of greater metastatic potential of tumor cells which lead to metastatic breast cancer. Prognostic role of TGF-beta1 is not fully understood, but from these results we could say that it could be a marker for monitoring patients disease course, as well as for understating the biology of breast cancer. |
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Key words:
Breast Neoplasms; Transforming Growth Factor beta; Neoplasm Staging; Tumor Markers, Biological |
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