H. Hareyama et al., SERUM AND TISSUE MEASUREMENTS OF CA72-4 IN PATIENTS WITH ENDOMETRIAL CARCINOMA, Journal of Clinical Pathology, 49(12), 1996, pp. 967-970
Aims - To evaluate the clinical usefulness of CA72-4 as a serum tumour
marker for endometrial carcinoma and to investigate its immunohistoch
emical localisation in endometrial carcinoma cells. Methods-Serum conc
entrations of CA72-4 were determined in 72 patients with endometrial c
arcinoma. Immunohistochemical localisation of CA72-4 was investigated
using the streptavidin-biotin method, using monoclonal antibodies B72.
3 and CC49. Results-Serum CA72-4 was increased above the cut off value
in 31.9% of the patients with endometrial carcinoma. Serum CA72-4 pos
itivity was correlated with depth of myometrial invasion, adnexal meta
stasis, lymphovascular space involvement, and pelvic and para-aortic l
ymph node metastasis. Multivariate analysis showed a significant corre
lation between serum CA72-4 positivity and adnexal metastasis. The ser
um concentrations of CA125 and CA19-9, which could be tumour markers f
or endometrial carcinoma, were measured at the same time. In seven of
72 patients increased concentrations of serum CA72-4 were found while
those for CA125 and CA19-9 were within the normal ranges; in four of t
he seven patients the disease had spread beyond the uterus. Immunohist
ochemical positivity for CA72-4 antigen was 76.9% and occurred in the
tumour cell membrane and cytoplasm. There was no significant differenc
e in immunohistochemical positivity between patients with increased CA
72-4 and those with normal CA72-4 values. Conclusions-The measurement
of serum concentrations of CA 72-4 could be useful for predicting and
monitoring the progress of disease-for example, extra-corporeal spread
.