Prostate-specific antigen in the serum of women with benign breast disease

Fibrocystic mastopathy is the most common benign breast disease. Available evidence suggests that the presence of breast cysts increases the risk of breast cancer. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and compare the detection rate of total and free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the serum samples of healthy women and in those of women with cystic mastopathy. Moreover, we compared PSA concentrations in the serum samples of the study groups.

The study population included 114 women with fibrocystic breast disease, with cysts measuring <10mm (Group I) and 62 with macrocysts measuring >10 mm (Group II). Forty-six healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study as a control group. We analyzed the frequency of the detection level and the mean serum concentrations of total and free PSA in women with mastopathy and in healthy participants. Total PSA (PSA-T) and free PSA (PSA-Free) were measured by an ultrasensitive fluoroimmunometric DELFIA assay (Prostatus PSA Free/Total Wallac, Turku, Finland). The detection limits was 0.01 ng/ml.

Our results showed the statistical significance of the fact that the detection rate of free and total PSA was higher in all women with mastopathy (Group I with II) than it was in the control group. There were no differences between Group I and Group II regarding the detection rate of the two forms of antigen and between the control group and Group II in the detection rate of total PSA. We also demonstrated that the mean concentration levels of both free and total PSA were significantly higher in the serum of women with mastopathy than in the control group.

These findings suggest that women with mastopathy, regardless of the size of the cysts, produce and release more PSA into the serum than women without breast pathology. The PSA may be a new marker for the assessment of benign breast disease.