Aberrant cystatin-C expression in blood from patients with breast cancer is a suitable marker for monitoring tumor burden.

In conclusion, elevated blood levels of cystatin-C were observed in 40% of breast cancer cases and were tumor-volume dependent. However, the concordance rate between tissue and blood was quite low, suggesting tumor heterogeneity of cystatin-C expression or co-acting pathway activation, such as cathepsin D. As one-third of breast cancer tissues express cystatin-C without cancer antigen 15-3 elevation, cystatin-C may represent a good tumor-monitoring marker in breast cancer. PMID: 30344712 [PubMed]
Source: Oncology Letters - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncol Lett Source Type: research