title: Serum concentrations of squamous-cell carcinoma antigen and tissue polypeptide antigen in the follow-up of patients with vulvar cancer.
abstract: Our aim was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of serum concentrations of squamous-cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) in the follow-up of patients with vulvar cancer. We measured SCC-Ag and TPA in 480 serum samples of 82 patients with squamous-cell vulvar cancer. Results were correlated with clinical data. SCC-Ag, TPA and the combination of SCC-Ag and TPA reached a sensitivity and specificity of 27%/97%, 28%/75% and 40%/73%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the marker combination SCC-Ag and TPA was not significantly higher compared with SCC-Ag alone (McNemar's test, p = 0.6 and p = 0.09, respectively). Of the 35 patients with recurrent disease during follow-up, 19, 6 and 10 developed local, regional and distant recurrent disease, respectively. SCC-Ag showed lead-time effects in 26%, 75% and 50% and TPA in 25%, 0% and 33% of patients with local, regional and distant recurrent disease, respectively. The combination of SCC-Ag and TPA showed lead-time effects in 50%, 75% and 50% of patients with local, regional and distant recurrent disease, respectively. The difference between median lead-times of the combination of SCC-Ag and TPA and SCC-Ag alone was not statistically significant (Mann-Whitney U-test, p = 0.4). Our data show that serum SCC-Ag displays good sensitivity/specificity characteristics in the follow-up of vulvar cancer patients, with lead-time effects seen in 75% and 50% of patients with regional and distant recurrent disease, respectively. Furthermore, our data indicate that combining SCC-Ag with TPA is not a successful strategy to improve the sensitivity or the duration of lead-time effects in the follow-up of patients with vulvar cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University of Vienna Medical School, Vienna, Austria. lukas.hefler@akh-wien.ac.at
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hefler
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Frischmuth
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sliutz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leodolter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reinthaller
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kainz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tempfer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015843:Serpins; D019396:Tissue Polypeptide Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015843:Serpins; D019396:Tissue Polypeptide Antigen; C051072:squamous cell carcinoma-related antigen