Disease Markers

Review Article

Clinicopathological and Prognostic Significance of Cancer Antigen 15-3 and Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis including 12,993 Patients

Table 3

Meta-analysis of the association between CEA or CA15-3 and clinicopathological features of breast cancer.


Variables	CEA							CA15-3
Variables	Number of studies	Number of patients	OR (95% CI)	P	Heterogeneity I² (%)	Heterogeneity Ph	Mode	Number of studies	Number of patients	OR (95% CI)	P	Heterogeneity I² (%)	Heterogeneity Ph	Mode

Age (≤35 versus >35)	3	1210	0.52 (0.29–0.94)	0.03	10	0.33	Fixed	3	1251	1.83 (1.20–2.80)	0.005	0	0.87	Fixed
Menopause (no versus yes)	3	792	0.75 (0.33–1.69)	0.49	62	0.07	Random	5	1524	1.16 (0.90–1.50)	0.25	19	0.29	Fixed
Tumor size (≤5 cm versus >5 cm)	5	1385	0.28 (0.13–0.57)	<0.001	69	0.01	Random	9	2766	0.42 (0.29–0.63)	<0.001	62	0.007	Random
Lymph node metastasis (no versus yes)	6	3497	0.44 (0.36–0.53)	<0.001	13	0.33	Fixed	9	4867	0.59 (0.38–0.93)	0.02	84	<0.001	Random
TNM stage (I-II versus III-IV)	7	4706	0.39 (0.25–0.60)	<0.001	77	0.0002	Random	10	5298	0.34 (0.20–0.58)	<0.001	88	<0.001	Random
Histological grade (I-II versus III)	5	2693	0.87 (0.58–1.31)	0.50	53	0.07	Random	8	3980	0.63 (0.46–0.87)	0.005	64	0.006	Random
ER (no versus yes)	5	3047	0.75 (0.41–1.38)	0.36	81	0.0003	Random	8	4194	1.23 (0.93–1.61)	0.14	50	0.05	Random
PR (no versus yes)	3	2622	0.83 (0.47–1.46)	0.52	78	0.01	Random	7	3810	1.01 (0.86–1.18)	0.95	0	0.91	Fixed
HER-2 (no versus yes)	2	730	0.67 (0.25–1.78)	0.42	83	0.01	Random	5	1305	1.11 (0.83–1.47)	0.48	0	0.76	Fixed
Luminal type (no versus yes)	3	1200	0.72 (0.37–1.39)	0.33	63	0.07	Random	4	1396	1.32 (0.77–2.22)	0.31	65	0.04	Random
HER-2 overexpress type (no versus yes)	3	1200	0.78 (0.32–1.89)	0.57	67	0.05	Random	4	1396	0.75 (0.50–1.14)	0.18	46	0.13	Fixed
Triple-negative type (no versus yes)	3	1200	2.08 (1.30–3.33)	0.003	52	0.12	Fixed	4	1396	0.91 (0.65–1.28)	0.59	0	0.51	Fixed

OR: odds ratio; 95% CI: 95% confidence interval; Ph: values of Q for heterogeneity test; ER: estrogen receptor; PR: progesterone receptor; HER-2: human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.