title: Long-term follow-up study on the role of serum CA-125 as a prognostic factor in 221 newly diagnosed patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
abstract: The present study has explored the possible value of sCA-125 as a prognostic factor in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). From August 1992 to June 2005 sCA-125 was measured at presentation and at the end of the treatments in 221 newly diagnosed adult patients with HL. In this study 90/221 (41%) patients showed a value greater than the standard upper limit of 35 U/ml, and 79/90 (88%) with an abnormal sCA-125 were at an advanced stage of the disease. Patients with elevated sCA-125 showed a significant reduction in complete remission (CR) rate (76%vs. 98%; p < 0.0001). Failure of normalization of sCA-125 during the treatment revealed that CR had not been reached. Furthermore, no traces of the glycoprotein sCA-125 were found in a series of paraffin-embedded samples coming from 15 patients of this study. In addition, soluble CA-125 was not detected in supernatants coming from four different Hodgkin-derived cell lines. The long-term follow-up revealed that the group of patients with sCA-125 lower than 35 U/ml, at diagnosis, had an estimated 92% event free survival (EFS) rate and a 94% overall survival (OS) rate, while the group of patients with sCA-125 greater than 35 U/ml had only a 60% EFS rate (log-rank 33.43, p < 0.0001) and a 70% OS rate (log-rank 23.52, p < 0.0001). Extranodal disease, severe lymphocytopenia and age proved to be the only standard factors that could represent a poor chance to survive. At multivariate analysis, high sCA-125, E sites >1 and age were the only independent factors producing poor outcomes in terms of CR, EFS and OS. Therefore, we believe that sCA-125 is a simple, reliable and reproducible tool, which may improve existing prognostic systems.
authors: Unità Operative Complesse: Ematologia Oncologica, Instituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione "G. Pascale" Napoli, Italy. filipporusso@alice.it
authors: Filippo
authors: F
authors: Russo
authors: Secondo
authors: S
authors: Lastoria
authors: Gino
authors: G
authors: Svanera
authors: Gaetana
authors: G
authors: Capobianco
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: de Chiara
authors: Raffaele di
authors: Rd
authors: Francia
authors: Elisabetta
authors: E
authors: Squame
authors: Franco
authors: F
authors: de Martinis
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Pinto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018394:CA-125 Antigen