Fig. 1

Protease inhibitor concentrations in the serum of breast cancer patients. Breast cancer patients were divided into 2 groups depending on invasive levels: lymph node-negative (n = 46) and lymph node-positive (n = 21). The lymph node-negative and positive patient serum was compared to samples from healthy donors (n = 14). TIMP1, TIMP2, TIMP3, PAI-1, alpha2-antiplasmin and cystatin in the patients’ serum were detected using commercial ELISA kits. A Comparisons between serum protease inhibitor concentrations in healthy people, lymph node-negative and lymph node-positive breast cancer patients. Each lymph node-negative (B) and lymph node-positive (C) group was then analyzed separately comparing the concentrations of each protease inhibitor for each different tumor grade (G1, G2 and G3). Each serum sample was tested in triplicate. Middle line in each group represents mean, lower- and upper-lines standard deviation (SD)