[Clinical significance of new tumor marker CA 125 in gynecological cancer--particularly usefulness in diagnosis of ovarian cancer]

Abstract

A concentration in sera of a new antigen CA125 related to cancer of the ovary was measured by radioimmunoassay which used a monoclonal antibody, and its usefulness as a tumor marker in the diagnosis of cancer of the ovary was investigated. The mean values for CA125 in sera of healthy controls (80 females) were 14.2 +/- 12.2 U/ml. Mean values for CA125 in sera of various patients were 29.0 +/- 39.6 for myoma uteri (30 cases), 26.7 +/- 30.1 for benign ovarian tumors (10 cases), 64.4 +/- 146.2 for cervical carcinoma (14 cases), and 31.5 +/- 19.8 for endometrial carcinoma (6 cases), whereas the mean values for ovarian cancers (23 cases) were as high as 311.3 +/- 250.4. On the other hand, positive rates for CA125, when the cut-off value was set to 65 U/ml, were 1.3% for healthy controls (1 out of 80 cases), 10.0% for myoma uteri (3 out of 30 cases), 10.0% for benign ovarian tumors (1 out of 10 cases), 14.3% for cervical carcinoma (2 out of 14 cases), and 16.7% for endometrial carcinoma (1 out of 6 cases), whereas the positive rate for ovarian cancers was 78.3% (18 out of 23 cases). Especially for serous cystadenocarcinoma, the positive rate was 100% (10 out of 10 cases). From the above, the measurement of CA125 in sera was considered to be significant in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.