Neuron Specific Enolase, a Biomarker of Breast Cancer Cerebral Metastasis

Abstract

Introduction: The diagnosis of brain metastasis and/or epilepsy remains a challenge in neurological symptomatic and asymptomatic cancer patients. Despite improved imagery and clinical approach, an early diagnosis requires more tools. Neuron Specific Enolase (NSE) is a specific molecular marker for mature nerve cells dosed at high levels in fetal and early postnatal brain, and is also a tumor marker in some types of neuroendocrine tumors. This is a two group, non-randomized study on sixty patients with breast cancer diagnosis. The main objective was to document the potential contribution of the NSE marker to the diagnosis of cerebral parenchyma metastasis. The second objective was to determine the predictive value of this marker in relation with the brain metastasis evolution. Patients and Methods: Patients with brain metastasis (BM) were matched with patients with no brain metastasis (NBM), using age and breast cancer subtype (luminal A, luminal B, triple negative, HER2 positive), as matching factors. The NSE level was measured one time for all the patients in the study—exceptions are detailed in the text. Results: Sixty breast cancer patients were included in the study, 30 in each group. Twenty-one BM patients were matched with twenty-one NBM patients. We observed a significantly increased level of the NSE in the BM group with a median value of 48.4 ng/ml (min 21.0 to max 349.2) compared to a median of 18.4 ng/ml (4.5 to 28.0) in NBM, P-value