Clinical value of serum neopterin, tissue polypeptide-specific antigen and CA19-9 levels in differential diagnosis between pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis.
BACKGROUND
Neopterin and tissue polypeptide-specific antigen (TPS) have been suggested to be useful in differential diagnosis between pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) and chronic pancreatitis (CP). The aim of our study was to compare the clinical usefulness of CA19-9, neopterin and TPS serum levels in patients with PA and CP.


METHODS
The study included 85 patients with PA, 72 with CP and 50 healthy controls. The serum concentrations of neopterin, TPS and CA19-9 were measured (DRG International, USA). The associations of the analyzed markers and clinical data at diagnosis have been evaluated.


RESULTS
Serum levels of neopterin, TPS and CA19-9 were higher in PA patients compared to CP (p < 0.001). TPS and CA19-9 levels were also elevated in patients with CP compared to the control group (p < 0.001). In contrast, there was no difference between neopterin serum levels in CP patients and the control group (p > 0.05). Neopterin showed the best sensitivity and specificity (91.8 and 87.5%) in PA diagnosis compared to CA19-9 (respectively 83.5 and 75%) and TPS (75.3 and 65.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that neopterin may be potentially useful in differential diagnosis between PA and CP. Assessment of TPS probably adds no significant information to that obtained with CA19-9 and neopterin. and IAP.
Department of Digestive Tract Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Katowice, Poland. r-wojnarowska@wp.pl
Renata
R
Talar-Wojnarowska
Anita
A
Gasiorowska
Marek
M
Olakowski
Andrzej
A
Lekstan
Paweł
P
Lampe
Ewa
E
Malecka-Panas
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019798:Neopterin / Q000097:blood*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D010455:Peptides / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D055815:Young Adult
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D010455:Peptides; C089984:tissue polypeptide specific antigen; D019798:Neopterin