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. 2019 Sep 29:2019:6959637.
doi: 10.1155/2019/6959637. eCollection 2019.

Elevated Preoperative Serum CA125 Predicts Larger Tumor Diameter in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Low AFP Levels

Sanshun Zhou  1 , Zusen Wang  2 , Manjiang Li  1 , Liqun Wu  1
Affiliations

Elevated Preoperative Serum CA125 Predicts Larger Tumor Diameter in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Low AFP Levels

Sanshun Zhou et al. Biomed Res Int. .

Abstract

Aim: Little is known about the association between cancer antigen 125 (MUC16/CA125) concentrations and tumor diameter of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and low AFP levels. To fill this gap in our knowledge, we conducted a retrospective study of 427 patients with HCC with AFP ≤200 ng/mL who underwent R0 resection at our center.

Methods: The associations between CA125 concentrations and patients' clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. Survival vs CA125 levels was also evaluated between patient groups with CA125 ≤30 U/mL or CA125 >30 U/mL. Independent risk factors of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed with Cox hazard regression model.

Results: Elevated preoperative serum CA125 was significantly associated with maximal tumor diameter (MTD) >5 cm and female sex (P < 0.001 and P=0.044, respectively). The DFS and OS of patients with CA125 ≤30 U/mL (n = 392) were significantly higher compared with those with CA125 >30 U/mL (n = 35) (P=0.003 and P=0.001 respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that MTD >5 cm was an independent risk factor of DFS (HR = 1.891, 95% CI: 1.379-2.592, P < 0.001) and OS (2.709, 1.848-3.972, P < 0.001).

Conclusions: In conclusion, elevated preoperative serum CA125 predicted larger tumor diameter and poor prognosis after patients with HCC with AFP ≤200 ng/mL underwent R0 resection, which may be explained by the elevation of the preoperative serum CA125 level significantly associated with MTD>5 cm.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Disease-free survival of patients with CA125 ≤30 U/mL and CA125 >30 U/mL.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall survival of patients with CA125 ≤30 U/mL and CA125 >30 U/mL.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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