Cytosol albumin content in operable breast cancer. Correlations to steroid hormone receptors, other prognostic factors and prognosis.

Albumin content has been reported to be significantly different in cytosols from benign and malignant breast tumors, with a higher level in benign lesions. Low albumin content is suggested to be associated with a higher tendency to axillary nodal involvement in breast cancer patients. Albumin contributes greatly to the total amount of protein in tumor cytosol, and is easily measured. Albumin was measured in cytosols from 382 patients with breast cancer stage I and II, to evaluate correlations to other tumor variables and to investigate whether it may add information as a prognostic factor. The albumin content was expressed in percentages of total cytosol protein, with a median value of 18.5% for the study population. It was found to be significantly inversely correlated to estrogen receptor (ER) content. Cytosol protein content was inversely correlated to albumin. In addition to tumor size and axillary nodal involvement, albumin content was found to be an independent prognostic factor for relapse-free survival in an analysis of different prognostic variables in patients not given adjuvant endocrine treatment. Low albumin content (less than median) seems to predict effect of adjuvant tamoxifen treatment.