Background: The early detection of gastric cancer is important issue for improving the survival rate. As a serum marker, Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CA19-9 in serum is widely used. But their limited sensitivity is not suiTable for screen method.
Methods: In this study, titer of CEA-IgM complexes was measured in serum from 86 patients with primary gastric cancer who underwent surgery. 48 of the tumors (56%) were Stage IA, 10 (12%) were Stage IB, 6 (7%) were Stage II, 11 (13%) were Stage III, 11 (13%) were Stage IV. Serum samples from 23 patients found to have no tumors with gastritis were analyzed as non-gastric cancer group. In each serum sample, CEA and CEA-IgM complexes were measured.
Results: By CEA-IgM tests, overall sensitivity was 20% (17/86), Stage IA 19% (9/48), Stage IB 30% (3/10), Stage II 0% (0/6), Stage III 17% (3/11) and Stage IV 2% (2/11), while false positive rate was 9% (2/23). By conventional CEA test, overall sensitivity was 5% (4/86), with Stage IA, IB 2% (1/58). Moreover, CEA-IgM complexes detected differentiated adenocarcinoma with overall sensitivity 38% (11/29), more than undifferentiated adenocarcinoma of gastric cancer.
Conclusion: CEA-IgM might open a new possibility of detecting gastric cancer by serum in early stages, especially of differentiated adenocarcinoma.
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