Summary
To establish further the clinical significance of the novel quantitative immunoradiometric assay system CA72-4 in patients with gastric and other digestive tract malignancies, the sera of a total of 208 subjects have been analysed and levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and another promising new tumour marker, CA195, have been compared. Twenty patients had gastric (GC), 60 colorectal (CC), and 14 pancreatic carcinomas (CC); 94 patients had benign disorders, and 20 were healthy volunteers. CA72-4 elevations above normal (>4 U/ml) were observed in 6 (30%) GC, 17 (28%) CC, and 8 (57%) PC patients. CA195 appeared more sensitive and was increased (>10 U/ml) in 35% GC, 70% CC, and in 100% PC patients; CEA levels above normal (>5 ng/ml) were noted in 35%, 45%, and 66% of patients respectively. CA72-4 had a rather high specificity and was increased in only 6/94 (6%) patients with benign diseases, whereas CA195 had a false positive rate of 23%, and CEA of 33%. Among 20 healthy donors, none had elevated levels of CA72-4 or CA195, but marginal elevations of CEA were noted in 3 smokers. Despite some advantage of the new tumour marker CA72-4 in terms of specificity, its value as a serodiagnostic test in gastrointestinal cancer patients seems inferior to that of CA195 and CEA.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abott Diagnostic Division (1982) Anticarcinoembryonic antigen125I (Goat) Abott CEA-RIA: Radioimmunoassay for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen. North Chicago, Ill, USA
Gero EJ, Colcher D, Ferroni P, Melsheimer R, Giani S, Schlom J, Kaplan P (1989) CA72-4 radioimmunoassay for the detection of the TAG-72 carcinoma-associated antigen in serum of patients. J Clin Lab Anal 3:360–369
Gupta M, Arciaga R, Bocci I, Tubbs R, Bukowski R, Deodhar SD (1985) Measurement of a monoclonal antibody defined antigen (CA19-9) in the sera of patients with malignant and nonmalignant diseases. Comparison with carcinoembryonic antigen. Cancer 56:277–283
Heptner G, Domschke S, Domschke W (1989) Comparison of CA72-4 with CA19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen in the serodiagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancies. Scand J Gastroenterol 24:745–750
Johnson BG, Schlom J, Paterson AJ, Bennett J, Magnani JL, Colcher D (1986) Analysis of a tumor-associated glycoprotein (TAG-72) identified by monoclonal antibody B72.3. Cancer Res 46:850–857
Koda JE, Grauer L, Kress B (1987) Characterization of the colon carcinoma associated antigen CA 195. Fed Proc 46:1058
Kornek G, Depisch D, Temsch EM, Scheithauer W (1991) Comparative analysis of cancer associated antigen CA-195, CA19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen in diagnosis, follow-up and monitoring of response to chemotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 117:493–496
Lan MS, Bast RC Jr, Colnaghi MI, Knapp RC, Colcher D, Schlom J, Megzgar RS (1987) Co-expression of human cancer-associated epitopes on mucin molecules. Int J Cancer 39:68–72
Paterson AJ, Schlom J, Sears HF, Bennett J, Colcher D (1986) A radioimmunoassay for the detection of a human tumor-associated glycoprotein (TAG-72) using monoclonal antibody B72.3. Int J Cancer 37:659–666
Stramignoni D, Bowen R, Atkinson B et al. (1983) Differential reactivity of monoclonal antibodies with human colon adenocarcinoma and adenomas. Int J Cancer 31:543–552
Thor A, Ohuchi N, Szpak CA et al. (1986) Distribution of oncofetal antigen tumor associated glycoprotein (TAG-72) defined by monoclonal antibody B72.3. Cancer Res 46:3118–8124
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kornek, G.V., Depisch, D., Rosen, H.R. et al. Comparative analysis of CA72-4, CA195 and carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 118, 318–320 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01208623
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01208623