P. Venesmaa et al., TUMOR-ASSOCIATED TRYPSIN-INHIBITOR (TATI) - COMPARISON WITH CA125 AS A PREOPERATIVE PROGNOSTIC INDICATOR IN ADVANCED OVARIAN-CANCER, British Journal of Cancer, 70(6), 1994, pp. 1188-1190
We have evaluated the prognostic value of tumour-associated trypsin in
hibitor (TATI) in stage III or IV ovarian cancer. Tumour-associated tr
ypsin inhibitor (TATI) and CA 125 were determined in serum samples fro
m 66 patients taken before primary surgery. TATI was elevated (> 22 mu
g 1(-1)) in 27 patients (41%). These had a 5 year cumulative survival
of 8%, whereas survival was 45% in 39 patients with normal preoperati
ve TATI values. By contrast, the preoperative CA 125 level did not pre
dict survival. In multivariate analysis which included age, stage, his
tological grade and preoperative TATI and CA 125 levels, patients with
elevated preoperative TATI levels had a 2.3-fold relative risk of dea
th (95% confidence interval 1.23-4.20; P = 0.002) compared with patien
ts with normal preoperative levels. This result was comparable with th
e predictive value of primary residual tumour size, since patients wit
h residual tumour larger than 2 cm in diameter had a 5.2-fold relative
risk of death (95% confidence interval 2.55-10.68) compared with pati
ents with a smaller or no residual tumour. Thus, preoperative determin
ation of serum TATI may have a place in the pretreatment evaluation of
patients with advanced ovarian cancer.