Elevated Concentration of Microvesicles Isolated from Peripheral Blood in Breast Cancer Patients

Background and Aims Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the main cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Microvesicles (MVs) are fragments of the plasma membrane secreted from cytoplasmic membrane compartments by normal and malignant cells. An increase in MV number has been found in peripheral blood of patients with several diseases including cancer. We hypothesized that MV number and the relative amount of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) proteins in plasma fractions enriched in MVs and deprived of platelet-derived MVs are related to the presence of breast cancer. Methods Plasma fractions enriched in MVs and deprived of platelet-derived MVs were obtained by differential centrifugation of blood samples. MV number was evaluated by BD TruCOUNT Tubes (BD Biosciences). FAK and EGFR proteins were analyzed by Western blot. Results MV number in plasma fractions enriched with MVs and deprived of platelet-derived MVs is higher in breast cancer patients with stages I–IV as well as with T2–T4 tumors, in comparison to control group. In addition, plasma fractions enriched in MVs present FAK and EGFR proteins and their amount is increased in some stages of breast cancer in comparison to control group. Conclusions Our findings strongly suggest that MV number and the amount of FAK and EGFR in plasma fractions enriched in MVs are associated with some stages of breast cancer.