Serum CYFRA 21-1 (cytokeratin-19 fragments) is a useful tumour marker for detecting disease relapse and assessing treatment efficacy in breast cancer.

The usefulness of serum CYFRA 21-1 (cytokeratin-19 fragments) in monitoring the recurrence of breast cancer and in evaluating therapeutic effects was studied retrospectively. The sera from 173 patients with primary breast cancer or recurrent disease were measured for CYFRA 21-1, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) levels. The positive rates of serum CYFRA 21-1 for stage IV (n=12) or recurrent disease (n=26) were 83.3 and 84.6%, respectively, while those of serum CEA were 41.7 and 26.9%, and those of serum CA 15-3 were 83.3 and 34.6%. The elevated preoperative levels of serum CYFRA 21-1 decreased to normal levels after curative operation, whereas the levels remained abnormally high after noncurative operation. There was a significantly high frequency of recurrence in patients with elevated levels of serum CYFRA 21-1 preoperatively compared to those with normal levels of the marker preoperatively. The serum CYFRA 21-1 levels were well correlated with response to chemotherapy. The positive rate of serum CYFRA 21-1 alone was higher than that of an assay combining CEA with CA 15-3, in both primary and recurrent cases (28.8 vs 18.8 and 84.6 vs 46.2%, respectively). These observations suggest that serum CYFRA 21-1 may be a reliable marker of recurrence or therapeutic efficacy.