title: Comparative study of tumor markers in patients with colorectal carcinoma before and after chemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Colorectal carcinoma (CRC), the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in US, has a rising time-trend in India. Tumour markers in CRC are extensively researched, and there's still debate on their diagnostic and prognostic values.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this hospital-based longitudinal study in north India, 51 male diagnosed CRC cases (pre-chemotherapy) were contrasted against 50 age and sex matched controls. Nine biomarkers: carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), prolactin (PRL), alfa feto protein (AFP), total human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), cancer antigen-125 (CA-125), serum testosterone, prostate specific antigen (PSA) and ferritin were measured by direct chemiluminescence technique. Further, follow-up was done on 47 cases after treatment with six cycles of 5-flurouracil (5-FU) and oxaliplatin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean serum CEA (case: 5.94±8.27 ng/mL, control: 2.5±0.79 ng/mL, P<0.05), PRL (case: 28.12±13.39 ng/mL, control: 14.24±13.13 ng/mL, P<0.0001), AFP (case: 10.9±6.65 ng/mL, control: 4.02±1.26 ng/mL, P<0.0001) levels were significantly raised in CRC cases compared to controls. On the contrary, mean testosterone level (P<0.05) was lower among the cases. After chemotherapy, the mean serum CEA (P<0.05), AFP (P<0.0001) and CA-125 (P<0.05) levels among the cases decreased significantly compared to their pretreatment levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study strongly indicates the role of CEA, PRL, AFP, CA-125 and testosterone as important biomarkers in male CRC patients from north India. Further, AFP, CA-125 and CEA may be used to assess the effectiveness of chemotherapy in such patients.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 3 Department of Biochemistry, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Atreyee
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 3 Department of Biochemistry, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Shashi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seth
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 3 Department of Biochemistry, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ashok K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 3 Department of Biochemistry, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Nupur
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bansal
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 3 Department of Biochemistry, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Kanchan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana, India ; 3 Department of Biochemistry, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahaur
keywords: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC); chemotherapy; tumor markers