CLINICAL UTILITY OF TISSUE POLYPEPTIDE ANTIGEN DETERMINATION IN LUNG-CANCER MANAGEMENT

In view of the fact that pulmonary malignancies still represent an imp ortant cause of tumor death and that the high rate of unsuccessful tre atment may be partly due to the late clinical presentation, efforts sh ould be spent not only to develop new and effective treatments but als o to improve early diagnosis and to identify prognostic factors and pa rameters useful for the monitoring of the treatment. Tumor markers, if used properly, can provide a useful support for the management of pat ients suffering from various malignancies, including lung cancer patie nts. The clinical significance of one of the most widely used tumor ma rkers, Tissue Polypeptide Antigen (TPA), has been reviewed and showed this marker to be useful to the clinician for the management of patien ts with pulmonary malignancy, as a complementary tool for diagnosing a nd staging the tumor as well as for monitoring treatment response or r elapse occurrence.