Abstract
Immunoreactive carcinoembryonic antigen (IR-CEA) levels in colorectal cancer and mucosal tissues, feces and blood were measured in 14 colorectal cancer patients to study the correlation. IR-CEA levels in colorectal cancer tissues were about 30 times higher than those in colonic mucosal tissues. The correlation coefficient between IR-CEA levels in the tumor tissue and serum was 0.654 (p<0.02). We assumed that the total tumor IR-CEA levels were the product of the tumor IR-CEA level, by the estimated tumor weight. The correlation coefficient between the serum IR-CEA level and total tumor IR-CEA level was 0.750 (p<0.001). When the patients were divided into two groups with more and less a total tumor IR-CEA level of 65,000 ng, respectively, the statistical difference in serum IR-CEA levels was p<0.001. The differences in fecal IR-CEA levels between these two groups, however, are statistically insignificant (p<0.3). We assumed that there was a positive correlation between the IR-CEA levels in blood and tumor from the consideration that circulating IR-CEA orginates from the metabolic imbalance of its production in colorectal cancer tissues over its degradation in the liver. Moreover, it is essential to consider that the fecal IR-CEA levels may be influenced by the following three factors: the intraluminal direct release of CEA from tumor, no degradation process of CEA in the gut lumen, and the intraluminal transport rate of colonic contents.
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Fujimoto, S., Kitsukawa, Y. Further investigations of immunoreactive carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in colorectal cancer patients with particular emphasis on the correlation between immunoreactive CEA levels in tissue, feces and blood. The Japanese Journal of Surgery 11, 27–32 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02468816
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02468816