Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Circulating cell-free deoxyribonucleic acid (cfDNA) is a topical subject that has proven its place in oncology. However, its regular use is always compromised by the relatively high cost of the technique. The objective of our study is to determine the usefulness of cfDNA in the management of obese patients with breast cancer as well as its prognostic impact.

Methods

Using real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we studied the levels of circulating free DNA, with three different methods: fluorometry, Bglobin gene and ALU115 sequences, in samples. plasma from 105 patients divided into 4 groups (G1: 23 healthy controls, G2: 33 obese women, G3: 23 non-obese breast cancer patients and G4: 26 obese patients). To assess the applicability of cDNA as a biomarker for distinguishing between different study groups, we performed a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We also studied the relationship of the levels of molecular markers as well as the values of DNA integrity in the cancer group with the various clinicopathological parameters.

Results

While the levels of cfDNA in the two cancer groups were higher compared to the control groups, this result was only significant using the fluorometric method (P = 0.045) and ALU115 sequences (P = 0.039). The level of cfDNA was also associated with lymph node involvement (P = 0.01). In fact, the level of cfDNA was found to be significantly higher in both groups of obese women (P < 0.001). However, we have not found significant results by studying the different correlations between DNA integrity and cancer on the one hand and obesity on the other. Using the ROC curve analysis, we were able to distinguish between breast cancer cases and healthy controls using cDNA as a marker (cutoff: 7.91 ng/ml; sensitivity: 67.3%; specificity: 64.3%; P < 0.001). This threshold was higher taking into account the metabolic profile of the patients with a value of 10.15 ng/ml in the obese groups and of 7.04 ng/ml in the non-obese groups.

Conclusion

cfDNA is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of breast cancer but remains modifiable with the metabolic profile of the patients. But, more studies with larger cohorts are needed to validate the use of DNA integrity in cancer diagnosis and prognosis.