Evaluation of soluble CD44 splice variant v5 in the diagnosis and follow-up in breast cancer patients

Aberrant expression of CD44 splice variants has been detected on a variety of human tumor cells. Overexpression of specific isoforms has been shown to be associated with metastasis and poor prognosis in breast cancer. We evaluated the possible utility of soluble CD44 splice variant v5 (sCD44v5) as a circulating, tumor-associated marker in breast cancer patients, Serum levels of sCD44v5 were determined in 147 healthy volunteers, in 53 patients with nonmalignant breast disease, in 85 patients with breast cancer at presentation, in 13 patients with recurrence and in 73 patients with active metastatic disease. Statistically, the levels at presentation in stages I-IV, in benign disease, and in a female control group were not significantly different, First longitudinal studies over 1-2 years in the follow-up of 28 patients who have remained tumor-free showed considerable between-patient variation while the intrapatient levels remained within relatively narrow limits. In patients with active metastatic disease, elevated levels of sCD44v5 (>58 ng.ml(-1)) were detected in 50% of the cases with marked elevation in only 26%, In these cases, sCD44v5 correlated with the extent of metastatic disease and fell during clinical response to cytoreductive therapy, In comparison with CA15-3 in the patients' follow-up serum levels of sCD44v5 proved to be much less sensitive concerning lead time, percentage of raised serum levels at the time of recurrence and in metastatic disease. The value of sCD44v5 determinations in breast cancer patients was further limited by the poor diagnostic specifity of this marker due to elevated levels in smokers and chronic inflammatory disease.