Value of procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide in women with breast cancer

Introduction: Aim of this study was to show the value of the bone turnover marker procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide (P1NP) in detecting bone metastases in women suffering from breast cancer. We furthermore investigated to what extent procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide is correlated to the extent of bone metastases and if procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide also is increased in patients with metastases others than bone. Patients and methods: We analyzed 80 serum samples of women (17 premenopausal/ 63 postmenopausal) with breast cancer. Therefore we used a specific immunoassay “ELECSYS 2010” by Roche Diagnostics. We divided our group of patients with regard to menopausal status, sites of metastases, number of bone metastases if there were any and hormonal therapy. Results: As a result we found higher concentrations of procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide in women with radiologically confirmed bone metastases (median: 125,75 ng/ml) in comparison to the collective without bone involvement (median: 73,61 ng/ml). However, both groups showed values above the applied cutoff values of 27,8 ng/ml for premenopausal women and 37,1 ng/ml for the postmenopausal group. Furthermore we found higher P1NP concentrations in women with more than 5 sites of bone metastases (median: 183,9 ng/ml) than in patients with only one site of confirmed bone metastases (median: 37 ng/ml). However, the group of patients with no bone involvement but other sites of metastases also showed quite high P1NP concentrations (median: 73,61 ng/ml). When it comes to P1NP levels under hormonal treatment our results obtained showed no significant differences (with hormonal therapy median was 104,15 ng/ml; without hormonal therapy median was 109,9 ng/ml). Conclusion: The marker of bone turnover procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide can be considered as a useful tool for estimating the extent of bone involvement and for the detection of bone metastases. However, we could not find significant results when it comes to hormonal therapy and it is a moot point whether P1NP can replace conventional methods for detecting bone metastases such as radiological methods. (Clin Exp Med Lett 2008; 49(4): 207-209)

Keywords: bone marker, bone metastasis, procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide