H. Ishikawa et al., ELEVATED SIALYL-LEWIS X-I ANTIGEN LEVELS IN PLEURAL EFFUSIONS IN PATIENTS WITH CARCINOMATOUS PLEURITIS, Internal medicine, 36(10), 1997, pp. 685-689
The levels of sialyl Lewis X-i antigen (SLX), which is one of the canc
er-associated carbohydrate antigens, were evaluated in 83 malignant an
d 46 benign pleural effusions, SLX levels in pleural effusion due to l
ung adenocarcinoma were significantly higher than those due to benign
diseases (p<0.0001), lung cancer other than adenocarcinoma (p=0.0052),
and adenocarcinoma originating from other organs (p=0.0492). Accordin
g to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the optim
al cut-off level in the discrimination between malignant and benign pl
eural effusions was 92 U/ml, which gave a sensitivity of 57.1% and a s
pecificity of 77.8 %. The cut-off level of pleural effusion in patient
s with carcinomatous pleuritis might be higher than that of serum (38
U/ml).