Review Article Use of Autoantibodies to Detect the Onset of Breast Cancer

Copyright © 2014 Jérôme Lacombe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The widespread use of screening mammography has resulted in increased detection of early-stage breast disease, particularly for in situ carcinoma and early-stage breast cancer.However, themajority ofwomenwith abnormalities noted on screeningmammograms are not diagnosed with cancer because of several factors, including radiologist assessment, patient age, breast density, malpractice concerns, and quality control procedures. Althoughmagnetic resonance imaging is a highly sensitive detection tool that has become standard for women at very high risk of developing breast cancer, it lacks sufficient specificity and costeffectiveness for use as a general screening tool. Therefore, there is an important need to improve screening and diagnosis of early-invasive and noninvasive tumors, that is, in situ carcinoma.The great potential formolecular tools to improve breast cancer outcomes based on early diagnosis has driven the search for diagnostic biomarkers. Identification of tumor-specific markers capable of eliciting an immune response in the early stages of tumor development seems to provide an effective approach for early diagnosis. The aim of this review is to describe several autoantibodies identified during breast cancer diagnosis. We will focus on these molecules highlighted in the past two years and discuss the potential future use of autoantibodies as biomarkers of early-stage breast cancer. 1