Abstract
We compared a new tumor marker NCC-ST-439 (ST-439) with CEA and CA15-3 for clinical usefulness in the same samples obtained from 135 patients with breast cancer (9 with primary, 27 with recurrent, and 99 with non-recurrent).
When the sensitivity was compared for their serum levels, ST-439 (66.7%) was higher than CEA (41.6%; p=0.063) and CA15-3 (38.9%; p=0.031). On the other hand ST-439 (82.8%) showed a significantly lower specificity than CA15-3 (97.0%; p=0.0014), however, there was no significant difference betweenn ST-439 and CEA (91.9%). No significant corrleation between ST-439 and CEA or CA15-3 was found. Combination of ST-439 with CEA or CA15-3 exerted a significantly superior sensitivity than that of each CEA or CA15-3 alone, or that of their combinaiton. These findings have indicated the clinical value of ST-439 as a monitoring marker in postoperative breast cancer patients.
