Abstract
Objectives: To assess the possible role of activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) in the diagnosis of a tumor with the evaluation of its importance in differentiating between benign and malignant tumors in comparison with the classical tumor markers for breast carcinoma, CEA and CA15-3.
Methods: A case-control research has been achieved at Al-Nahrain University, in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Baghdad, Iraq. This work has been done for 60 female patients with the cancer of the breast and 60 female patients with benign breast tumors who were recruited from Al Imamain Al-Kadhimayn medical city and Oncology teaching Hospital, Baghdad between May 2018 and December 2018. The ALCAM, CEA, and CA15-3 levels have been calculated from sera of women with either malignant or benign breast tumors and compared to the age of 75, BMI, and sex-matched control subjects.
Results: The levels of ALCAM in the patients with benign and malignant tumors were 85.87±12.38, 91.1±9.74 pg/mL; respectively, and significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of controls (80.1±12.91 pg/mL). CA15-3 levels exhibited significant (p<0.05) increase in cancerous patients in comparison with controls (29.21±9.96, 22.74 ±8.67; respectively) whereas CEA levels showed nog significant differences among the studied groups. Levels of ALCAM were positively and significantly correlated with levels of CA15-3 in the patients with malignant tumors while CEA showed no correlations with other parameters. Analysis of ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) showed that ALCAM can be considered as an excellent marker for diagnosis of the differentiation between malignant and benign breast tumor and excellent marker for the diagnosis of the cancer of the breast in comparison with controls, whereas CEA, CA15-3 and there combinations.
Conclusion: The possibility of using ALCAM in the diagnosis of breast cancer and differentiating between malignant and benign tumors.

Key words: Breast cancer; tumor marker; Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule; Benign tumor; carcinoembryonic antigen; malignant tumor; Cancer antigen 15-3