| Objective To analyze the level of soluble E-cadherin (sEC) in patients with benign and malignant breast masses in order to provide references for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Methods A total of 120 female patients with breast lumps who were diagnosed and treated at the First People's Hospital of Chuzhou City from March 2017 to September 2020 were selected as the research objects, and the clinical data of the patients were retrospectively analyzed. The 62 patients diagnosed with breast cancer pathologically were taken as the observation group, and 58 patients with benign breast masses were taken as the control group. The levels of sEC, carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) and carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) in the peripheral blood of the two groups of patients were tested and compared, and the diagnostic value of various indicators for benign and malignant breast masses was analyzed. Results The level of sEC in the peripheral blood of the observation group was (2 568.77±325.63) ng/mL, CA125 was (39.35±7.51) U/mL, and CA15-3 was (44.97±7.40) U/mL, which were higher than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the best cut-off points for diagnosis of sEC, CA125 and CA15-3 were 2 154.50 ng/mL, 41.50 U/mL and 37.50 U/mL, respectively, and the area under the curve was 0.850 (95%CI:0.785~0.915), 0.756 (95%CI:0.668~0.844) and 0.858 (95%CI:0.793~0.922). The sensitivity was 96.8%, 51.6% and 87.1%, the specificity was 55.2%, 96.6% and 67.2%, and the correct rates was 76.7%, 73.3% and 77.5%, respectively. The sEC level of patients with lymph node metastasis was higher than those without lymph node metastasis, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The level of sEC is elevated in breast cancer patients, which has certain value for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. |
