Serum leucine aminopeptidase estimation: a sensitive prognostic indicator of invasiveness in breast carcinoma.

Serum Leucine Aminopeptidase (LAP) was studied in 25 patients of breast tumors, and compared with 50 age matched controls. Clinical staging was done in 13 cases of breast carcinoma. Serum LAP was increased but not significantly in stage I (P less than 0.1), while in stage II & III, significant increase was observed (P less than 0.05), but a sharp peak was noted in stage IV with metastasis in liver (P less than 0.001). Serum LAP values were correlated with histological sub-types of breast carcinoma. Highest serum LAP values were observed in filtrating duct carcinoma with productive fibrosis (P less than 0.01), followed by medullary carcinoma and the enzyme values were slightly decreased in intraductal carcinomas.