Circulating Growth and Angiogenic Factors and Lymph Node Status in Early-stage Breast Cancer - A Pilot Study

To evaluate the possibility of selected biomarkers for breast cancer diagnostics and/or treatment monitoring, lymph node (LN) status determination and clinical decision regarding axillary node dissection.

Two hundred and eleven patients with malignant breast cancer and 42 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled. Serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) and plasma epidermal growth factor (EGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), osteoprotegerin (OPG) and osteopontin (OPN) were measured. We compared patients versus controls, patients with negative versus positive lymph node and patients with and without axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).

We found elevated IGF1 and VEGF levels in patients with lymph node metastases compared to controls (p=0.0179 and p=0.0091, respectively) and in patients with ALND (p=0.0337 and p=0.0438, respectively).

Circulating IGF1 and VEGF levels may predict the presence of lymph node metastases and help in the decision to avoid ALND in patients with early-stage breast cancer.