Usefulness of measuring the value of KL-6 antigen in pancreatic juice for diagnosing malignant IPMN of the pancreas and pancreatic cancer

Abstract

KL-6 is an antigen of the sialylated sugar chain expressed on MUC1. We examined the usefulness of measuring the level of KL-6 in pancreatic juice for the diagnosis of malignant IPMN of the pancreas and pancreatic cancer. The values of KL-6 in pancreatic juice were 670±894U/ml in the malignant IPMN group and 26±42U/ml in the pancreatic cancer group, which were significantly higher than the values in the benign IPMN and control groups. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for diagnosis were all 100% for malignant IPMN and 38%, 100% and 69% for pancreatic cancer, under a cut-off value of KL-6 in the pancreatic juice of 20U/ml, respectively. The results showed that measuring the level of KL-6 in pancreatic juice is useful for the diagnosis of malignant IPMN and pancreatic cancer.