[Detection of isoferritin level in breast cancer tissue and serum]

ELISA (double-determinant) was used to evaluate the isoferritin level in the breast cancer tissue. The isoferritin concentration was measured in cytosol extracts of 25 breast cancer tissues (BCT), 6 cancer surrounding tissues (CST) and 8 normal breast tissues (NBT). With the results of 16,023 +/- 15,732, 2467 +/- 1360 and 1382 +/- 647 ng/mcp (milligrams of ontosol protein), respectively. The isoferritin concentrations of BCT and CST were 11.6 and 1.8 times as much as that of NBT, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.001 and 0.05). The serum isoferritin level was also measured in 96 healthy persons and 68 breast cancer patients (mean 58.7 +/- 35.8 and 473.3 +/- 297.3 ng/ml) with the difference as big as 8.1 times. The results have demonstrated that the level of cytosol isoferritin in BCT is an important parameter of breast tissue malignance and may be also responsible for the serum isoferritin increase. Therefore we think that serum isoferritin may be used as a marker for early diagnosis of breast cancer.