Evaluation of Serum Mammaglobin as an Alternative Biomarker in the Diagnosis of Breast Tumors

• Published in: Journal of laboratory physicians Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 020 - 024
• Main Authors: Fatima, Maira, Sai Baba, Kompella S. S., Sreedevi, Neelam N. R., Kumar, Japa P., Raju, Gottumukkala S., Uppin, Shantveer G., Bhaskar, Madrol V., Khan, Siraj Ahmed, Iyyapu, Krishna M., Noorjahan, Mohammed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd 01.03.2023
• Subjects: breast cancer; breast tumor; CA 15–3; CEA; MAM; mammaglobin; Original; Original Article; MAM; breast cancer; breast tumor; CA 15–3; mammaglobin; CEA
• ISSN: 0974-2727; 0974-7826
• DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1747678

Abstract Introduction  Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in India and accounts for 14% of all cancers in women. Rise in mortality is due to lack of awareness and proper screening. Mammography and presently available serum biomarkers have low sensitivity and specificity. In our quest to identify a better biomarker, we studied mammaglobin (MAM) in patients with breast cancer and benign breast tumors. Aim  To evaluate serum mammaglobin in breast cancer patients and compare it with benign breast tumor patients and healthy controls. To compare it with existing biomarkers serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cancer antigen 15–3 (CA 15–3). Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional, case–control study of 77 subjects, of which 27 were breast cancer patients, 20 benign breast tumor patients, and 30 healthy controls. Serum CEA and CA15–3 were estimated by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) and mammaglobin (MAM) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results  Mammaglobin and CEA levels were elevated in breast cancer patients, followed by benign breast tumors when compared with controls ( P  < 0.000001). Mammaglobin showed 81.5% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value (PPV), and 88.9% negative predictive value (NPV). CEA showed 88.9% sensitivity, 82.5% specificity, 77.4% PPV, and 91.7% NPV. The area under the curve was the highest for MAM (0.892), followed by CEA (0.889) and CA 15–3 (0.555). CA15–3 showed poor diagnostic efficacy. Combined receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the biomarkers MAM and CEA had an AUC of 0.913. Conclusion  Mammaglobin proved to be an efficacious biomarker in diagnosing breast cancer.