In a study conducted by Cornelia Ulrich, Ph.D. and colleagues from the Cancer Prevention Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, elevated levels of two proteins in the blood - C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) - were found to be associated with overall survival rates in patients with breast cancer. The study involved 734 breast cancer patients, with data drawn from the Health, Eating, Activity and Lifestyle (HEAL) study, a multi-ethnic National Institutes of Health-funded prospective group of women diagnosed with Stage 0 to Stage IIIa breast cancer. Measurements of the CRP and SAA proteins were taken 31 months after initial diagnosis.

The researchers found that those women with the top-third highest levels of SAA were three times more likely to die from their disease within the following seven years compared to the group of patients in the lowest third. They also found a two-fold increased risk of death in women with the top-third highest levels of CRP.

"We found these associations to hold up after adjusting for a number of factors that associate with systemic inflammation, such as obesity," said Dr. Ulrich, who noted that their findings were regardless of patient age, tumor stage, race or body mass index. "To our knowledge, this is the largest population-based cohort study to date that examined the relationship between systemic inflammation and breast cancer survival, and the first to evaluate SAA as a prognostic marker for breast cancer. These associations are strong and they suggest that, in the long-term, elevated levels of inflammatory markers predict a woman's chances of surviving after breast cancer," she says. "It also appears that there may be a threshold effect in that only women in the highest third of inflammation markers had increased mortality," Dr. Ulrich added.

Past clinical and experimental data has shown that chronic inflammation promotes the development of breast tumors. Before undergoing surgery, women with breast cancer have been found to have elevated concentrations of CRP - and the more advanced the disease, the higher the levels. The researchers also suggest that cancer survivors with chronic inflammation may be at a higher risk of recurrence because of the effects that the inflammatory process has on cell growth.

Dr. Ulrich emphasizes that more research needs to be conducted in order to confirm their findings and to gain more precise estimates of risk. The findings were published in the May 18 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

News Release: High levels of two proteins linked to reduced survival in patients with breast cancer www.docguide.com   May 25, 2009