Significance of serum carcinoembryonic antigen in metastatic breast cancer patients: A prospective study

BACKGROUND Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an important serum tumour marker with a substantial role in diagnosis and monitoring of various solid tumours. About 36%-70% of breast cancers have elevated serum CEA. And the available studies show discrepancy in addressing the prognostic significance of CEA in advanced breast cancer. AIM To estimate the serum CEA level in our metastatic breast cancer patients and correlate it with response to treatment and clinical outcome. METHODS This was a prospective clinical study conducted on 50 metastatic breast cancer patients treated at breast clinic, with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer planned for palliative chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and hormonal treatment. We estimated the proportion of patients with elevated serum CEA level at baseline and after palliative treatment and also studied the association of serum CEA levels with known prognostic factors. The response to treatment was correlated with the serum CEA levels in the context of responders and non-responders. RESULTS The median pre-treatment and post-treatment CEA levels were 7.9 (1.8-40.7) ng/mL, and 4.39 (1.4-12.15) ng/mL, respectively, in the whole study population (P = 0.032). No statistically significant difference was seen in baseline serum CEA between responders and non-responders. Even in the luminal group, pretreatment serum CEA was not a predictor of response, but post-treatment CEA was a significant predictor of tumour progression. In patients with liver and lung metastases, post-treatment CEA level difference was not statistically significant in both responders and non-responders though the values were higher in non-responders. Among those with bone metastases, 69.5% had elevated post-treatment serum CEA, and only 37.5% had elevated serum CEA in those with no bone metastases. CONCLUSION Elevated post-treatment serum CEA levels are associated with disease progression and poor response to therapy. Persistently elevated post-treatment serum CEA levels are significantly associated with bone metastases. Elevated serum CEA and hormonal status are significant predictors of treatment response.