The plasma DNA concentration as a potential breast cancer screening marker.

Increased levels of plasma DNA have frequently been noticed in the blood plasma of cancer patients. The possibility of using plasma DNA level as the indicator of tumor stage in breast cancer was investigated in plasma samples obtained from 100 breast cancer patients and 100 healthy women who were included as controls. Circulatory plasma free DNA was extracted from plasma samples and quantified by fluorometer. The median concentration of plasma DNA in the plasma samples from breast cancer patients classified by TNM staging system as stage I, II, III, IV and breast surgical patients were 0.5, 235, 422, 1,280 and 0.5 ng/ml, respectively. The level of plasma DNA in the stage II- IV group was significantly higher than those in the surgical group with breast cancer and control group (P value < 0.001). The plasma DNA concentration in stage II, III and IV of breast cancer were higher when compared with healthy group. These tumor size, TNM stage and metastasis were significantly correlated with plasma DNA. The cut point of 120 ng/ml was early screening and treatment follow up breast cancer.