title: Glutathione S-transferase activity in patients with cancer of the digestive tract.
abstract: Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and carcinoembryonic antigen were measured in the plasma of 95 patients with neoplasm of digestive tract, in 40 patients suffering from non-neoplastic diseases and in 40 healthy subjects. The mean value of the GST activity was significantly (P < 0.001) elevated in patients with gastric, liver and colorectal cancer (10.4 U/l, 14.1 U/l and 12.3 U/l respectively) as compared with the reference population (3.2 U/l). GST elevations above normal were observed in 26 (90%) patients with gastric cancer, in 18 (100%) with liver cancer and in 25 (89%) with colorectal cancer. Carcinoembryonic antigen appeared less sensitive. In 15 patients the postoperative levels of serum GST were increased after surgery then gradually declined and after 1 month showed a normalization in 10 patients. Our data suggest that GST measurement may be useful as a tumour marker in gastric, liver and colorectal cancer. Moreover the combined determination of GST and other markers increase the sensitivity for cancer detection.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Biochimica Clinica, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Severini
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D004066:Digestive System Diseases / Q000201:enzymology; D004067:Digestive System Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D005982:Glutathione Transferase