Serum protein profiling reveals an inflammation signature as a predictor of early breast cancer survival.

Background: Breast cancers exhibit considerable heterogeneity in their biology, immunology, and prognosis. Currently, no validated, serum protein-based tools are available to evaluate the prognosis of patients with early breast cancer.

Methods: The study population consisted of 521 early-stage breast cancer patients with a median follow-up of 8.9 years. Additionally, 61 patients with breast fibroadenoma or atypical ductal hyperplasia were included as controls. We used a proximity extension assay to measure the preoperative serum levels of 92 proteins associated with inflammatory and immune response processes. The invasive cancers were randomly split into discovery (n = 413) and validation (n = 108) cohorts for the statistical analyses.

Results: Using LASSO regression, we identified a nine-protein signature (CCL8, CCL23, CCL28, CSCL10, S100A12, IL10, IL10RB, STAMPB2, and TNFβ) that predicted various survival endpoints more accurately than traditional prognostic factors. In the time-dependent analyses, the prognostic power of the model remained rather stable over time. We also developed and validated a 17-protein model with the potential to differentiate benign breast lesions from malignant lesions (Wilcoxon p < 2.2*10; AUC 0.94).

Conclusions: Inflammation and immunity-related serum proteins have the potential to rise above the classical prognostic factors of early-stage breast cancer. They may also help to distinguish benign from malignant breast lesions.