Abstract
We report a comparative study of CA 15.3 and EMCA (epithelial mucin core antigen) in 77 consecutive women with newly diagnosed UICC assessable metastatic breast cancer, 59 patients received hormones and 18 chemotherapy. Assessments of response were made prior to commencing therapy and repeated 2 monthly. Sites of metastatic disease included bone (34), pulmonary (8), bone and pulmonary (14) and visceral (21). Using a cut-off of 33 U ml-1 changes in EMCA at 2, 4 and 6 months showed a highly significant correlation (P < 0.001) with UICC assessed response at 6 months; selectivity 70%, sensitivity 80%, specificity 91%, positive predictive value 84%; negative predictive value 89% at 2 months. Corresponding values for CA 15.3: selectivity 89%, sensitivity 85%, specificity 91%, PPV 92% and NPV 91%. Four of eight patients unassessable by CA 15.3 were assessable by EMCA; four patients expressed neither marker. EMCA appears to reflect tumour bulk and may be useful in monitoring therapy in patients with advanced breast cancer. With an easier and more robust assay format than CA 15.3, EMCA is potentially a more useful marker.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dixon, A., Price, M., Hand, C. et al. Epithelial mucin core antigen (EMCA) in assessing therapeutic response in advanced breast cancer – a comparison with CA15.3. Br J Cancer 68, 947–949 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1993.459
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1993.459
This article is cited by
-
Intensive post-operative follow-up of breast cancer patients with tumour markers: CEA, TPA or CA15.3 vs MCA and MCA-CA15.3 vs CEA-TPA-CA15.3 panel in the early detection of distant metastases
BMC Cancer (2006)
-
A fermentation strategy for anti-MUC1 C595 diabody expression in recombinantEscherichia coli
Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering (2006)
-
An anti-MUC1-antibody–interleukin-2 fusion protein that activates resting NK cells to lysis of MUC1-positive tumour cells
British Journal of Cancer (2003)
-
Expression of monoclonal-antibody-defined antigens in fractions isolated from human breast carcinomas and patients' serum
Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy (1995)
-
The Immunology of Breast Cancer
Clinical Immunotherapeutics (1995)