Pregnancy protein-1 in the serum of patients with diseases of the breast

Pregnancy-specific beta 1-glycoprotein (SP1) was assayed by enzyme immunoassay in serum from 32 patients with breast diseases (11 mastopathies, 6 benign tumors and 15 breast cancers). Healthy blood donors were used as control group. There were significant differences between the SP1-serum concentrations of patient group (mastopathies, benign tumors, breast cancer) and the control group (p less than 0.001). The SP1-values of the groups with mastopathies, benign tumors and breast cancer did not differ significantly. Elevated SP1-concentrations were found in 4 of 11 patients with mastopathy, in 3 of 6 patients with benign tumor and in 10 of 15 patients with breast cancer versus 1 of 24 blood donors. With the help of SP1 determination in serum of 5 breast cancer patients before operation and 6 months post operation we did not found a correlation with further clinical course.