Relationship between serum ELAM-1 and metastasis among patients with colon cancer.
OBJECTIVE
We studied serum ELAM-1 levels in colon cancer patients.


RESULTS
Serum ELAM-1 levels were significantly higher in 52 patients with colon cancer (mean +/- standard deviation, 69.3 +/- 28.6 U/ml) compared with 32 healthy volunteers (36.5 +/- 11.9 U/ml; P < 0.001). The mean serum ELAM-1 level in patients with metastatic tumors was significantly greater than that of patients with nonmetastatic tumors. Sensitivity and specificity of serum ELAM-1 elevation in detecting metastasis was 75 and 87.5 percent, respectively. Those of carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 elevations were 71.4 and 62.5 percent and 35.7 and 91.7 percent, respectively. Twenty-five (89.3 percent) of 28 metastatic tumors showed either serum ELAM-1 or carcinoembryonic antigen elevation. There were weak but significant correlations found between serum ELAM-1 and carcinoembryonic antigen or carbohydrate antigen 19-9 levels. Moreover, serum ELAM-1 increased before detecting the recurrence by imaging in five of seven recurrent colon cancer patients.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that serum ELAM-1 could be a useful tumor marker for colon cancer, especially in synchronous and metaclonous metastasis.
Takahashi
Y
Y
Department of Surgery, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Japan.
Mai
M
M
Watanabe
M
M
Tokiwa
M
M
Nishioka
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D019040:E-Selectin / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D019040:E-Selectin