Different Levels of CEA, CA153 and CA125 in Milk and Benign and Malignant Nipple Discharge

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic values of three breast tumor markers (i.e., CEA, CA153 and CA125) in milk and nipple discharge in the prediction of different breast diseases diagnoses. METHODS: Three hundred thirty-six patients (96 breast cancer and 240 benign disease patients) with nipple discharge and a control group of 56 healthy parturient participants were enrolled in the present study. Nipple discharge samples were preoperatively collected from the patients, and milk was collected from the colostrum of the parturient participants. The samples were assayed for the CEA, CA153 and CA125 levels. Cutoff values were determined for the detection of breast diseases using ROC curves. RESULTS: The levels of CEA, CA153 and CA125 were significantly different between the nipple discharge and the milk (all ps < 0.001). In the nipple discharge, the CEA and CA153 levels in the breast cancer group were significantly greater than those in the benign group (all ps < 0.001), and cutoff values of 263.3 ng/mL and 1235.3 U/mL, respectively, were established. However, the expression of CA125 did not differ significantly between the breast cancer and benign groups. CONCLUSION: Differences in the apparent expression levels of CEA, CA153 and CA125 in patients with nipple discharge and healthy persons were validated. The present data suggest that CEA and CA153 might potentially be useful in the differential diagnoses of benign tumors and breast cancer. CA125 did not seem to be useful for breast cancer detection.