TISSUE POLYPEPTIDE-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN IN PEDIATRIC-PATIENTS - ASSESSMENT OF NORMAL VALUES

Measurement of serum concentrations of tissue polypeptide-specific Ant igen (TPS) has been demonstrated to be useful in diagnosis and monitor ing of adult epithelial tumors. So far, no data have been available on normal or pathologic TPS values in children. Therefore, the present s tudy was designed to evaluate the normal values of TPS in childhood. U sing a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, serum TPS was determined in 361 healthy children. Median (M) TPS was found to be 107 U/l at birth (n = 124). By the end of the first week, the va lue rose to M = 150 U/l (n = 68) and then continuously decreased with age (1 week-1 year, n = 45, M = 88 U/l; 1-7 years, n = 75, M = 51 U/l) until reaching the adult level (8-18 years, n = 49, M = 34 U/l). Addi tionaly, the serum TPS values of 45 mothers right after delivery (M = 161 U/l) were ar sessed, and there was no correlation to the marker le vels determined in the cord blood of their children. The age-dependent distribution of serum TPS in healthy children must be taken into acco unt in the clinical application of this tumor marker. (C) 1997 Wiley-L iss, Inc.