Cancer antigen 125, carcinoembryonic antigen, and carbohydrate determinant 19-9 in ovarian tumors

Abstract

The authors studied data of combination assays of tumor markers, because simultaneous elevation of different types of tumor markers in the serum was puzzling. They interpreted such phenomena regarding cancer antigen 125, carcinoembryonic antigen, and carbohydrate determinant 19-9 in ovarian tumors. The tissue expression of the antigens was compared with preoperative serum levels. Several different factors were found to cause the simultaneous elevation of two or three of these markers in the serum. Furthermore, even when the levels of some of the tumor markers were raised in the serum, the ovarian tumor did not always produce the marker by itself. This study indicates that immunohistochemical identification of a marker in tumor tissue is prerequisite to the use of that marker in the serum to monitor disease status.

Serum CA19.9 levels are commonly elevated in primary ovarian mucinous tumours but cannot be used to predict the histological subtype

“…Fifty per cent and 33% of the cases that showed focal and diffuse positivity for CA19.9, respectively, were associated with an elevated serum CA19.9. This supports the theory that substances secreted by tumour cells are not necessarily released into the blood 8. The number of cases on which CA19.9 immunohistochemistry was undertaken is very small and it would be interesting to perform this in a larger number of cases.…”

“…As CA19.9 is directly produced by tumour cells, it would be expected that some correlation would exist between serum levels and size. However, substances produced by tumour cells are not necessarily released into the serum 8 36. Furthermore, increased tumour size does not necessarily equate with an increased amount of constituent epithelium, since many of these neoplasms are predominantly cystic, with an epithelial component accounting for only a minor proportion of the tumour.…”

“…The range of serum CA125 levels was 4–855 U/ml in benign mucinous cystadenomas, 2–2011 U/ml in borderline mucinous tumours, and 10–3016 U/ml in mucinous carcinomas. Immunohistochemical expression of CA125 is uncommon in ovarian mucinous tumours 8. It is likely that the elevated serum CA125 level in primary ovarian mucinous neoplasms is attributable to CA125 production by reactive mesothelial cells within the peritoneum and omentum.…”

“…CA19.9 is a monosialoganglioside secreted by mucinous tumours of the gastrointestintal tract, including the pancreas and biliary tree 8 9. Elevated serum levels are sometimes found in patients with an ovarian epithelial or germ cell tumour, in particular epithelial neoplasms of mucinous type, or germ cell tumours with a mucinous component 9–16.…”

Hollow PDA-Au nanoparticles-enabled signal amplification for sensitive nonenzymatic colorimetric immunodetection of carbohydrate antigen 125

“…The concentration of 35 U/mL of CA125 is a diagnostic criteria to determine whether healthy or not (Motoyama et al 1990;Porcel et al 2004). CA125 levels were measured by immunoradiometric assay (Klug et al 1984) and enzyme immunoassay (Reinsberg et al 1993;Wu et al 1988) in clinic research.…”