Soluble POSTN is a novel biomarker complementing CA153 and CEA for breast cancer diagnosis and metastasis prediction

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BCa) is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis and metastasis prediction are essential to improve the prognosis of BCa. This study aimed to evaluate serum periostin (POSTN) as a novel biomarker complementing CA153 (carbohydrate antigen 153) and CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) for BCa diagnosis and metastasis prediction. METHODS: To assess the potential of soluble POSTN as a circulating biomarker, 242 participants, including 173 patients with different stages of BCa and 69 healthy individuals, were enrolled in this study. Soluble POSTN, together with CA153 and CEA, were determined in serum by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or electrochemiluminescence immunoassays. RESULTS: Serum POSTN levels in locoregional BCa patients were significantly higher than that in healthy controls. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis revealed that, to distinguish health controls from locoregional BCa, POSTN was observed with the highest AUC (area under curve) (AUC(POSTN) = 0.72 [0.65 – 0.79], AUC(CA153) = 0.57 [0.49 – 0.64], AUC(CEA) = 0.62 [0.55 – 0.69]), and both CA153 and CEA were observed with significantly improved AUCs by combination with POSTN (AUC(POSTN + CA153) = 0.74 [0.67 – 0.80], P < 0.001; AUC(POSTN + CEA) = 0.77 [0.70 – 0.82], P < 0.001). Moreover, the performances of the POSTN were comparable with that of CA153 in predicting distant metastasis of BCa (AUC(POSTN) = 0.78 [0.71 – 0.84], AUC(CA153) = 0.82 [0.76 – 0.88]). Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated that elevated serum POSTN was associated with poor overall survival and progression-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that soluble POSTN is a promising potential biomarker for diagnosis and metastasis prediction of BCa. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09864-y.