The Value of Human Epididymal Protein 4, Carcinoembryonic Antigen and Alpha-Fetoprotein in the Early Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Objectives: This research aimed to unveil the value of human epididymal protein 4 (HE4), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in the early diagnosis of cervical cancer. Design: A clinical study Participants: Sixty patients with cervical cancer stage IA-IIA (early-stage cervical cancer group), 60 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (disease control group), and 60 healthy women who had passed the physical examination (healthy control group) were selected. Setting: Jiaxing First Hospital Methods: Sixty patients with cervical cancer stage IA-IIA (early-stage cervical cancer group), 60 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (disease control group), and 60 healthy women who had passed the physical examination (healthy control group) were selected. The expression levels of serum HE4, CEA and AFP in the three groups were detected, and the correlation between the levels of serum HE4, CEA and AFP and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with early-stage cervical cancer were analyzed, and the ROC curves were plotted to identify the value of the single and triple tests of serum HE4, CEA and AFP for the early-stage diagnosis of cervical cancer. Results: The levels of serum HE4, CEA and AFP in the early-stage cervical cancer group were higher than those in the disease control and the healthy control groups (P < 0.05). The levels of serum HE4, CEA, and AFP were related to the FIGO stage as well as the histological grading of patients with early-stage cervical cancer (P < 0.05). The results of the ROC curves revealed that the AUC areas of HE4, CEA, and AFP for single as well as triple diagnosis of patients with early-stage cervical cancer were 0.725, 0.679, 0.663 and 0.811, respectively, and the AUC of the three combined tests was markedly higher than that of HE4, CEA, AFP single test (P < 0.05). Limitations: There is a lack of larger sample sizes to test whether the combined HE4, CEA and AFP detection has sufficient validity at the individual level and there are not enough serum samples in this study to perform circulating HPV DNA detection and compare it with the levels of serum markers. Conclusion: The combination of HE4, CEA and AFP has good clinical reference value analysis in the auxiliary diagnosis of early-stage cervical cancer, and it is worthy of further validation and popularization.