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We measured high-molecular-mass alkaline phosphatase (HiMwALP) in serum samples from patients with colorectal cancer by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and by column chromatography on diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-cellulose. Determination of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) by an enzyme immunoassay, a frequently used cancer assessment method, was used for comparison. We studied patients with primary colorectal cancer (n = 72), using others with hemorrhoids (n = 38) for a comparison group. HiMwALP activities twice those of pooled normal sera were adopted as cutoff values. The diagnostic sensitivity of the PAGE method for 72 colorectal cancer patients was 63% vs 36% for the DEAE method and 50% for the CEA method. The diagnostic specificities of the PAGE, DEAE, and CEA methods were 89%, 79%, and 95%, respectively. Using both HiMwALP (PAGE method) and CEA for the detection of primary colorectal cancer increased the sensitivity to 72% but decreased specificity to 87%.

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