Ovarian cancer antigen CA 125 levels in pelvic inflammatory disease and pregnancy

Abstract

Circulating CA 125 levels were studied in patients with gynecologic cancer and pelvic inflammatory disease, and in pregnant women. The CA 125 level was elevated (greater than 35 U/ml) in 69% (9/13) of patients with active ovarian cancer, in 32% (7/22) of patients with active cervical or endometrial cancer, in 24% (11/46) of pregnant women, and in 33% (10/30) of patients with acute pelvic inflammatory disease. Sixty-three other patients with nonmalignant gynecologic disorders, including 15 patients with ectopic pregnancy, had normal CA 125 levels. The occurrence of elevated CA 125 levels in patients with pelvic inflammatory disease can limit the use of the assay for diagnosis of cancer in young women. Gynecologic tumors may be associated with inflammatory reactions that may contribute to elevated CA 125 levels in some cancer patients.

A phase II study evaluating the use of concurrent mitomycin C and capecitabine in patients with advanced unresectable pseudomyxoma peritonei

“…Serum CA125 concentrations are commonly raised in patients with PMP, and at initial presentation, may mimic gynaecological malignancies (Pranesh et al, 2005). However, it is noteworthy that serum CA125 levels may also be raised in conditions including peritoneal irritation (Sjovall et al, 2002), pelvic inflammatory disease (Halila et al, 1986) and benign hepatic disease (Topalak et al, 2002). Although our study demonstrated elevated levels of all three markers in one-third of the cases at baseline, and reductions of 50% or more in half of these, there was no relationship between treatment response and decrease in marker level.…”

Circulating levels of colony-stimulating factor 1 as a prognostic indicator in 82 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

“…Initially it was thought to be specific for ovarian (Kawabat & Bast, 1983) and gastrointestinal malignancies (Haga et al, 1986), but subsequently it was found to be raised in a variety of benign conditions including pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease (Haga et al, 1986;Halila et al, 1986) and cirrhosis, suggesting it to be a marker of non-specific peritoneal damage (Redman et al, 1988). CA125 serum levels have since been shown to have a high sensitivity and specificity for predicting response to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients as well as for detecting relapse.…”

Oncofetal markers CA 19-9, CA 125 and SP1 in healthy children and in children with malignancy

“…Serum CA 125 is elevated in about 80% of patients with ovarian cancer (Haglund, 1986), but it may also be elevated in patients with other gynaecological or gastrointestinal malignancies, and during pregnancy (Halila et al, 1986).…”

“…Serum concentrations of CA 125, CA 19-9, SPI and AFP were measured using radioimmunoassays (Halila et al, 1986;Haglund et al, 1986a;Rutanen et al, 1980;Ruoslahti & Seppiila, 1971). Statistical methods used were simple regression and correlation analyses and Student's t test.…”