1263 Advanced breast cancer (ABC) and CEA, MCA, CA 15.3: Correlation with response to treatment

In this study we evaluated the correlation with serum levels of CEA, MCA and CA 15.3 and response to treatment (tr) in 147 patients (pts) with ABC. Markers were determined before, during and after tr (hormono or chemotherapy). Cut off was: CEA = 5; MCA = 11; CA 15.3 = 30. Pre-treatment CEA was elevated in 51% of pts, MCA in 72% and CA 15.3 in 71%. In this subgroup of pts these markers were correlated to response to tr respectively: CEA in 75% of pts, MCA in 82% and CA 15.3 in 79%. We observed that CEA showed an inferior sensitivity to the other markers (51% vs 72% and 71%). We concluded that these markers can be useful to monitor the therapy in pts with elevated levels pretreatment. We believe interesting to determine them together pretreatment, because at least 1 of the 3 was elevated in 89% of pts.