Evaluation of C-Peptide in Breast Cancer Patients in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide, and despite advances in detection and treatment, there is an ongoing need for reliable biomarkers that can aid in early diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment response. C-peptide have been proposed as potential biomarkers in breast cancer. There is a scarce information on the relationship between C-peptide with cancer progression and prognosis and none of this information are related to Nigeria or any race in the country, Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the levels of C-peptide in patients with breast cancer. The specific objectives were to assess and correlate the results obtained from C-peptide among breast cancer patients and healthy volunteer control individuals and their anthropometric measurement in Nnewi-North, Anambra state. Approvals for ethical consideration were obtained from the Ethical Committee of Ministry of Health, Anambra State of Nigeria. The study was carefully explained to the subjects and their informed consent obtained before they were recruited into the study. Including: Forty-five (45) breast cancer patients and forty-five (45) apparently healthy control individuals. The samples in the plain sample containers were spun for 10 minutes at 3000 revolutions per minute (RPM) and separated. Serum C-peptide was estimated using the sandwich ELISA Method. The outcomes of this study were statistically evaluated using SPSS software version 23.0, which is a statistical tool for social sciences. The result revealed that no significant difference was observed in the level of C-peptide (1.40±1.67 ng/mL) of the women with breast cancer from that of the control group (1.54±1.36 ng/mL) and (0.58±1.56ng/mL) respectively. No significant difference (p>0.05) in the serum C-peptide level between the age group. No significant correlation (p>0.05) between C-peptide level in the test and the control group and the anthropometric parameter. This study recommends that further research should be carried out to determine whether C-peptide have subtype-specific prognostic value in breast cancer and to explore other metabolic pathways that may influence disease progression.