title: [Significance of detection of serum sialic acid and Epstein-Barr virus VCA-IgA in diagnosis and monitoring radiotherapy effectiveness in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To understand the significance of detection of serum sialic acid (SA) and Epstein-Barr virus VCA-IgA (EBV-CA-IgA) in diagnosis and monitoring radiotherapy effectiveness of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum SA and EBV-CA-IgA were detected in 65 cases with NPC before radiotherapy and one months after radiotherapy and 21 cases one year after radiotherapy for NPC with local recurrence and/or distant metastasis. Healthy persons and patients with benign lesions of head and neck were also enrolled as control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SA and EBV-CA-IgA of NPC patients before radiotherapy were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.01). The sensitivity of combination of SA and EBV-CA-IgA (96.9%) was higher than those determined alone (P<0.05). The SA level of NPC patients after radiotherapy and without recurrence after radiotherapy was reduced significantly compared to the NPC patients before radiotherapy (P<0.01). The SA level of NPC patients with recurrence was significantly higher than that in NPC patients without recurrence (P<0.01), whereas the positive rate of EBV-CA-IgA changed little.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dynamic detection of serum SA may be a valuable technique for diagnosis and monitoring radiotherapy effectiveness in NPC patients. The combined determination of the two indexes can raise the positive rate of patients with NPC.
authors.affiliation: Huzhou Central Hospital, Huzhou 313000, China. dlc@hzhospital.com
authors.forename: Li-na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Li-cheng
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Jian-fang
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Ying-wu
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhi-hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000821:virology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D036022:Capsid Proteins; C041788:Epstein-Barr viral capsid antigen; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid