title: Low frequency and low level of elevation of serum CA 72-4 in human carcinomas in comparison with established tumor markers.
abstract: We evaluated a new circulating tumor marker, CA 72-4, by comparing its frequency of appearance and level of elevation with other established tumor markers in serial serum specimens from patients with various carcinomas. We found that CA 72-4, though highly expressed and widely found in various tumor tissues, is present at low concentration and frequency in the serum. In breast, colon, ovarian, and pancreatic carcinomas, only 21%, 30.9%, 16%, and 26.5% of specimens, respectively, showed elevated CA 72-4. When elevated, the level of elevation was also low, much lower than that of the dominant markers. Poor response of CA 72-4 to therapy was especially noticeable in serial specimens. In most cases, the CA 72-4 remained normal for the entire series while other markers remained at elevated levels. However, changes of the level of CA 72-4 usually paralleled those of other markers but at a much lower concentration. Simultaneous measurement of CA 72-4 and CA 19-9 appears useful to differentiate colorectal from pancreatic carcinomas when they all contained elevated levels of CA 19-9. There was a much higher ratio of CA 72-4 to CA 19-9 with colon than with pancreatic and other carcinomas (247 +/- 524 vs. 4.7 +/- 6.8).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and ARUP, University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City 84132.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carlisle
mesh_terms: D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor