title: The diagnostic value of serum carcino-embryonic antigen, alpha fetoprotein and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 for colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to investigate whether or not serum carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) can be used as potential biomarkers for colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six patients with pathology or cytology confirmed CRC and 36 cases with non-malignant colorectal disease (NMCD) were included in this retrospective study. The serum level of CEA, AFP and CA19-9 were arrayed and recorded for the two groups. The diagnosis sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve for serum CEA, AFP and CA19-9 were calculated by the STATA-10.0 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that serum CEA, AFP and CA19-9 level in CRC patients were significantly higher than in NMCDs cases (all P < 0.05). The diagnosis sensitivity of CRC for CEA, AFP and CA19-9 were 80.43%, 73.91% and 69.57%; the diagnosis specificity of CRC for CEA, AFP and CA19-9 were 75.00%, 69.44% and 61.11%. The areas under the ROC curves for CEA, AFP and CA19-9, were 0.88, 0.78 and 0.77 respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that serum CEA, AFP and CA19-9 may be a useful biomarker for diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma against NMCD.
authors.forename: Yan-Rong
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The People's Hospital of Wuqing, Tianjin 301700, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Xia
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Li-Na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins