Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein (Iap) and Ca 125 Assays in Detection of Human Ovarian Cancer: Preliminary Results

Abstract

Serum levels of the immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) and CA-125 were measured in 45 patients with ovarian tumors (30 malignant and 15 benign) before surgery. Concentrations of both markers were slightly increased in benign forms but still within the upper limit for controls. The sensitivity of IAP in detecting ovarian cancer was higher than CA-125 (83.4% versus 76.7%). Five false negatives were observed in IAP assay and seven for CA-125. Parallel determination of both markers, however, improved the diagnostic accuracy up to 90.0% of the total malignant cases. Combined measurements of circulating IAP and CA-125 are therefore recommended in the detection of ovarian cancers.

Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein and CA 125 Levels in Patients with Ovarian Cancer

“…Our data are in agreement with previous studies showing that the positivity rates of IAP range from 70.4 to 83.4% of ovarian malignan cies and those of CA 125 from 66.3 to 88.5% [9][10][11], This variability in the percentage of positivity ob served for IAP and CA 125 can be scribed either to a different threshold level used for IAP or to different clinical stages among the groups of patients selected for these studies.…”

“…Five mi croliters of scrum were applied to each well of the gel plate made with agarose containing antilAP rabbit serum. After incubation at 37 C for 60 h in a humid atmosphere, the diameters of the precipi tation rings were measured in a magnified photograph of the plates and the value was compared to those obtained with calibration standards of purified IAP [9], The intra-and interassay coefficients of variation were 3.76 and 4.83%. respectively.…”

“…Following our previous study [9] we have extended the number of patients with ovarian cancer and simul taneously assayed the serum levels of IAP and CA 125. We show here that the combination of the two markers greatly enhances the reliability of these serum tests in the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.…”

“…Recently, an acidic serum glycoprotein was found increased in a large number of patients with ovarian cancer [6][7][8][9][10][11]. This protein, called immunosuppressive acid protein (IAP), belongs to a group of serum pro teins endowed with immunosuppressive properties and probably involved, with other undefined factors, in the impairment of immunological reactivity fre quently associated with advanced ovarian cancer [8,[12][13][14][15].…”

The Role of Circulating Antigen and Autoantibody in Diagnosing Ovarian Cancer

“…Cancer Serum levels of CA 19-9 (monosialoganglioside antigen widely used in gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma diagnostics) are elevated in 68% to 83% of mucinous ovarian cancers but in only 28% to 29% of non-mucinous types, whereas CA-125 is elevated in 80% of non-mucinous ovarian tumors [11][12][13][14] providing a differential diagnostic tool for non-mucinous versus mucinous subtypes. Other markers, alone or in combination, have also been used; serum CA 15-3, CA 72-4, and CEA levels are elevated, respectively, in 50% to 56%, 63% to 71%, and 25% to 50% of patients with ovarian cancer [15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Additionally, these markers did not offer additional clinical benefit for monitoring ovarian cancer, suggesting that the serial measurement of these markers may play a role only in the management of patients with a normal CA 125 assay [21].…”