Significance of serum carcinoembryonic antigen in metastatic breast cancer patients: A prospective study

Table 1 Association of baseline serum carcinoembryonic antigen with other variables in study population

CEA level	Less than or equal to 3.8	More than 3.8	P value
Pre-menopausal	3	9	0.79
Post-menopausal	11	27
Grade 2	3	9	0.79
Grade 3	11	27
Luminal	6	30	0.016
Her2 Neu	1	2
TNBC	7	4
Luminal	6	30	0.012
Non luminal	8	6
Bone metastases	6	19	0.682
No bone metastases	7	17
Lung metastases	11	25	0.487
No lung metastases	2	11
Liver metastases	3	15	0.392
No liver metastases	10	21
Less than 5 metastases	1	2	0.78
More than 5	12	34
PR/SD/CR	9	23	0.79
Progression	5	13

CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; TNBC: Triple negative breast cancer; PR/SD/CR: Partial response/stable disease/complete response.

Table 2 Serum carcinoembryonic antigen and response to treatment in responders and non-responders

Serum CEA	Responders	Non-responders	P value
Median pre-treatment serum CEA	8.87 (2-49.6)	5.4 (1.7-36.01)	0.527
Median post-treatment serum CEA	2.07 (1-8.7)	11 (4.65-22.5)	0.002
P value	0.001	0.06

CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen.

Table 3 Serum carcinoembryonic antigen and response to treatment in responders and non-responders according to breast cancer type

Classification		Responders			Non-responders
		Median pre-CEA	Median post-CEA	P value	Median pre-CEA	Median post-CEA	P value
Hormonal classification	Luminal	14.7 (5.4-50.6)	3 (1-10)	0.001	22.39 (3.9-84.4)	21.00 (10.6-164.15)	0.26
	Non-luminal	1.85 (1-3.65)	1.25 (0.5-3)	0.046	4.15 (0.85-10.17)	5.65 (2.65-12.05)	0.161
Genomic classification	Luminal	14.7 (5.4-50.6)	3 (1-10)	0.001	22.39 (3.9-84.47)	20.67 (10.6-164.17)	0.260
	HER2	4 (1.2-4)	3.25 (0.5-3.25)	0.18	11.7	13	_
	TNBC	1.85 (0.74-2.4)	1.25 (0.67-1.88)	0.144	4 (0.5-5.6)	5.3 (2.2-9.2)	0.237

TNBC: Triple negative breast cancer; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen.

Table 4 Serum carcinoembryonic antigen and response to treatment in bone, liver, and lung metastases

Serum CEA (ng/mL)	Bone metastases	No bone metastases	P value
Median pre-treatment serum CEA	11.7 (2.9-48.4)	6.8 (2-32.3)	0.788
Median post-treatment serum CEA	9 (2-20)	2 (1-9)	0.063
	Liver metastases	No liver metastases
Median pre-treatment serum CEA	11.7 (4.4-62.7)	6.8 (1.9-22.7)	0.244
Median post-treatment serum CEA	8 (1.2-19.75)	3 (1.25-11.5)	0.352
	Lung metastases	No lung metastases
Median pre-treatment serum CEA	7.8 (1.9-31.3)	9.78 (5.15-66.64)	0.353
Median post-treatment serum CEA	3.5 (1-13.75)	5 (1.5-10)	0.93

CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen.