A new breast cancer marker (BCM) in monitoring disease status

An assay for breast cancer mucin (BCM) has been recently reported which employs monoclonal antibodies M85 and F36/22 for recognizing o-glycosidic linkage on mucin and an epitope of ductal carcinoma antigen respectively. Neuraminidase has been used in the assay system to expose tumor associated antigen thereby improving the sensitivity of the assay. BCM levels were serially measured in 86 patients with breast cancer over 1 year period. Levels of BCM when correlated with the disease status showed an increase in 27 of 28 patients with disease progression. Conversely all 17 patients with disease regression showed a decrease in BCM levels. Of 21 patients with stable disease only 2 showed >25% change in their BCM levels. All 20 NED patients remained within the normal range during the study. Significantly higher change in mean BCM values was noted for patients with progression and regression of the disease as compared to patients with NED or stable disease. The assay may be useful in monitoring of patients with breast cancer.