Abstract

ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among the Iraqi population. Alteration in the expression of Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) compared to normal tissues are reported in the literature.
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate whether measuring this tumour marker in serum of breast cancer patients before and after treatment might also be useful markers in the diagnosis, screening and monitoring the malignant tumour progression and response to therapy.
METHODS:
Serum samples were obtained from (28) apparently healthy women (Control Group) with a mean age of 40.9 ± 7.6 years and (60) female patients complaining from primary breast cancer (Patients Group) with a mean age of 48.3 ± 8.9 years. They were divided according to their clinical end point into: Pre-Surgical Group, Post-Surgical Group and post- chemotherapy Group. Serum sFas level was measured using ELISA kits.
RESULTS:
The mean serum levels of sFas were significantly elevated (P<0.05) in breast cancer patients than controls. There was no significant influence of the studied personal and pathological characteristics upon biomarkers levels in any of the breast cancer subgroups (P > 0.05). sFas level was found an effective test (P < 0.05) in both pre- surgery and post- chemotherapy groups (accuracy is 87% and 90% respectively). At readings ≥ 300 pg/ml in both groups, sensitivity approached 85%. Fas was not found an effective test in the post surgery group (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
It could be concluded that sFas is useful for monitoring the response of breast cancer patients to surgery and chemotherapy if the effect of systemic inflammatory reactions is excluded.
KEY WORDS: soluble fas,post-chemotherapy.