B Cell Lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) in Serum Increased with Breast Cancer in Egyptian Women

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jadara University, Jordan

2 Department of Immunology and Allergy, Medical Research Institute, University of Alexandria. Egypt

3 Department of Clinical and Experimental Surgery, Medical Research Institute, University of Alexandria, Egypt

4 Department of Clinical Pathology and Immunology, Medical Military Academy, Alexandria Armed Forces Hospital, Egypt

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed female-spe­cific cancer and shows an increasing trend in diagnosed cases worldwide. An estimated one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. BC is estimated to be the most common female cancer in Egypt, and the incidence rate among Egyptian women is 48.8/105. Evasion of cell death is now acknowledged as a hallmark of cancer, required to overcome the counterbalancing effects of cell death on enhanced cell proliferation. B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) gene involves in cell survival mechanism rather than cell proliferation and it prolongs cell life by preventing apoptosis via activating different signaling routes which are induced by various agents. We aimed in this study to investigate whether the Bcl-2 activities are associated with breast cancer in Egyptian women, and correlated to different clinicopathological features of the disease. The study was conducted on forty-five females; thirty women with different stages of breast cancer, and fifteen normal healthy females were included as a control group. All patients under study were subjected to full history taking and clinical examination. Fresh blood samples were obtained from all subjects, serum separation was done for measurement of Bcl-2 levels by ELISA technique. Our results showed that there were significantly higher serum Bcl-2 levels in breast cancer patients before surgery than in normal healthy controls. The results obtained also revealed that the mean value of Bcl-2 for the breast cancer patients was significantly higher than the control group. We almost can say that the Bcl-2 values would increase with advanced stages of breast cancer.

Keywords