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Nipple Fluid Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor in Patients with Breast Cancer

¹ Division of Surgical Oncology, School of Medicine and ² Department of Biomathematics, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

Requests for reprints: Mai N. Brooks, Division of Surgical Oncology, School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, P.O. Box 951782, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Phone: 310-206-2215; Fax: 310-825-7575. E-mail: maibrooks{at}mednet.ucla.edu

Purpose: It has been shown that early detection of breast cancer could save lives. Recently, there has been increasing interest in nipple fluid as a potential supplemental avenue for breast cancer diagnosis.

Experimental Design: In this study, we determined the levels of an angiogenic factor basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in the nipple fluid of healthy subjects as well as patients with benign breast conditions, those at high risk for breast cancer, and patients with active breast cancer. ELISAs were used to measure bFGF.

Results: Nipple fluid bFGF levels were as follows (mean ± SE): 158 ± 17 pg/mL from benign breasts, 561 ± 277 pg/mL from high-risk breasts, and 1,343 ± 441 pg/mL from cancerous breasts. One-way ANOVA showed that the bFGF levels from cancerous breasts were significantly higher than those from benign and high-risk breasts (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.0193, respectively). After logarithmic transformation was applied to the data, high-risk breast bFGF levels were higher than those from benign breasts (P = 0.0028). With a cutoff level of 250 pg/mL, the sensitivity was 79.2%, specificity was 82.5%, and correct diagnosis was 66.4%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.86.

Conclusions: We conclude that nipple fluid bFGF levels are progressively elevated in high-risk and cancerous breasts compared with benign breasts. The sensitivity and specificity of this test are promising compared with current breast cancer screening methods, and this test deserves further studies with larger clinical trials. Potential areas of usefulness include the detection of breast cancer risk or breast cancer, as well as the monitoring and/or prediction of the antiangiogenic effect of preventive therapies. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14(12):2995–8)