Association of Serum CA15-3, CA125, and TPS Levels with Clinicopathological Factors in Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer, the most common cancer, is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women globally. To effectively reduce mortality, it has become a hot topic to find prognostic indicators that are highly correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer in early stages. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the levels of serum cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), and tissue polypeptide specific antigen (TPS) in individuals with breast cancer and to elucidate the relationship between these markers and clinicopathological factors, as well as their impact on disease prognosis. Methods: This study included 140 subjects diagnosed with breast cancer (breast cancer subgroup), 120 subjects with breast cancer benign lesions (breast benign disease subgroup), and 120 healthy controls (control subgroup). The clinical data and blood samples were collected from all study subjects. Furthermore, the serum levels of CA15-3, CA125, and TPS were evaluated using corresponding enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. The correlation between serum indexes and clinicopathological factors was analyzed. Additionally, the 3-year survival rate of breast cancer patients was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: A statistically significant difference was observed in the serum CA15-3, CA125, and TPS levels across three subgroups: breast subgroup, benign breast disease subgroup, and control subgroup (p < 0.05), with higher levels observed in the breast subgroup followed by benign breast disease subgroup. Furthermore, their levels were correlated with pathological type, tumor node metastasis classification tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, lymph node metastasis, and histological grade (p < 0.05, p < 0.001). Moreover, these markers were identified as independent risk factors for breast cancer using multivariate Logistic regression analysis (p < 0.05). The probability of survival of breast cancer subjects in high CA15-3 level subgroup, high CA125 level subgroup and high TPS level subgroup was notably lower than that in low level subgroup, which was shown by Kaplan-Meier analysis (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The serum levels of CA15-3, CA125, and TPS are significantly elevated in subjects with breast cancer, and their expression levels are correlated with pathological type, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and histological grade. These tumor markers can be used as predictors of breast cancer prognosis.