CYFRA-21-1 - AN INDICATOR OF SURVIVAL AND THERAPEUTIC EFFECT IN LUNG-CANCER

CYFRA 21-1 is a new tumor marker using two different monoclonal antibo dies which recognize the divergent epitope on the N- or C-terminal reg ion of domain 2 of cytokeratin 19 fragment, respectively. In this stud y, we investigated the relationship between levels of CYFRA 21-1 and s urvival duration, as well as the efficacy of chemotherapy associated w ith changes in CYFRA 21-1. Serum samples were obtained from 87 patient s with nonoperable lung cancer (35 cases with squamous-cell carcinoma, 33 with adenocarcinoma, 3 with large-cell carcinoma, and 16 with smal l-cell carcinoma). The cutoff point was set at 3.5 ng/ml. In a CYFRA 2 1-1 assay, significantly more patients with squamous-cell carcinoma an d adenocarcinoma were positive compared to patients with small-cell an d large-cell carcinomas (p = 0.0017). Following chemotherapy, blood le vels of CYFRA 21-1 decreased significantly in responders versus nonres ponders (p = 0.0246). A significant correlation was noted between surv ival periods and pretreatment levels of CYFRA 21-1 (p = 0.0036). The p resent study suggests that CYFRA 21-1 might be useful as a possible in dicator of survival and therapeutic effect for lung cancer.