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SCC antigen (Ag) is a tumor-associated Ag (TAA) obtained from squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. This study reports the evaluation of this TAA in patients with head and neck malignant diseases and its possible prognostic value. Serum samples from 28 patients with benign head and neck diseases from 399 patients with cancer were obtained prior to treatment. SCC Ag serum levels were determined by radioim-munoassay using 2.5 ng/ml as the upper limit of normality. Elevated SCC Ag serum levels were found in 14% of 28 patients with benign diseases, in 29% of 217 patients with primary tumors, in 48% of 46 patients with recurrence (43% in locoregional, 64% in metastases) and in 4% of 136 patients with no evidence of disease. In patients with primary tumors, SCC Ag serum levels were related to nodal involvement and tumor location with significantly higher levels in node-positive patients (p = 0.001) and in tumors located in the nasopharynx and piriform sinus (p = 0.02). Presurgical SCC Ag serum levels in patients with primary tumors had prognostic value with shorter disease-free survival in those patients with abnormal values of this TAA (p < 0.001), in both, node-negative and node-positive patients (p < 0.01). Multivariate analyses showed that SCC Ag is a significant independent predictor of disease-free survival even when other prognostic factors are considered. In conclusion, pretreatment SCC Ag serum levels are an independent prognostic indicator in patients with head and neck malignancies. Copyright © 1996 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the specificity and sensitivity of progastrin releasing peptide (ProGRP) in 37 healthy subjects and 195 patients with benign and 149 with malignant diseases other than lung cancer. Likewise, we compared the ProGRP with other tumor markers used in lung cancer (CEA, SCC, CYFRA and NSE) in 187 patients with NSCLC and in 66 SCLC patients. We considered 50 pg/ml, 5 ng/ml, 2 ng/ml, 3.3 ng/ml and 20 ng/ml as the upper limits of normality for ProGRP, CEA, SCC, CYFRA 21-1 and NSE, respectively. Abnormal ProGRP serum levels were found in 10% of patients with benign diseases and in 13% of patients with malignancies other than lung. Renal failure was the main source of false-positive results (51.6%). Slightly raised ProGRP serum levels, excluding renal failure, were found in 4.1% of patients with benign diseases (<80 pg/ml) and in 5% of patients with malignancies other than lung cancer or neuroendocrine tumors (<120 pg/ml). Abnormal levels of ProGRP, NSE, CEA, CYFRA and SCC were found in 30%, 22.5%, 55.6%, 65.2% and 26.7% of NSCLC and in 73%, 64%, 53%, 46% and 4.5% of SCLC, respectively. Tumor marker serum levels were related to histological type and tumor extension, with ProGRP being the most sensitive marker in SCLC, CEA in adenocarcinomas and CYFRA 21-1 in squamous tumors. The most sensitive combinations of tumor markers were ProGRP and NSE in SCLC (88%), and CEA plus CYFRA in NSCLC (82%). In summary, ProGRP is the tumor marker of choice in SCLC and NSE is a complementary tumor marker in this histological type.

Background: The description of a new method for the measurement of complexed prostate-specific antigen (cPSA) offers a new approach to the diagnosis of prostate cancer., Patients and Methods: We measured PSA (Hybritech and Bayer), free PSA (Hybritech) and complexed PSA (Bayer) in 72 patients with prostate cancer and 128 with benign prostate hyperplasia., Results and Conclusion: We found an increase of sensitivity using 25 and 7 ng/mL as cut-offs for cPSA in relation to total PSA using as cut-offs 4 and 10 ng/mL (96 and 36% vs. 92 and 35.5%). Similar differences were found for specificity (78% and 31% for cPSA vs. 73% and 29% for total PSA). Therefore, we defined a gray zone for patients with cPSA between 2.5 and 7 ng/mL for which the measurement of the free/complexed PSA ratio saves an important number of negative biopsies maintaining a higher sensitivity.

Background and Objective: The description of different forms of PSA has opened a new strategy in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The measurement of the ratio between free PSA and PSA in the group of patients with a PSA level between 4 and 10 ng/ml decreases the number of negative biopsies. The aim of our study was to compare the diagnostic efficacy of PSA and PSA fractions (free PSA [fPSA] and complexed PSA [cPSA]) in the differential diagnosis between Pca and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH)., Patients and Method: We measured the serum levels of PSA, free PSA and cPSA in 56 patients with Pca and 94 patients with BPH., Results: ROC curves were used for the comparison of tests. The biggest area under the curve (AUC) was observed for the ratios fPSA/cPSA and fPSA/PSA (0.718 and 0.712, respectively). When we compared the AUC between PSA and cPSA, then AUC for cPSA was higher than AUC for PSA (0.602 and 0.567, respectively). We observed similar results in the group of patients with PSA levels between 4 and 10 ng/ml., Conclusions: The diagnostic accuracy of cPSA is higher than that of PSA. Moreover, in the differential diagnosis between prostate cancer and BPH, the use of PSA ratios (fPSA/cPSA or fPSA/PSA) increases the diagnostic accuracy obtained with the measurement of PSA or cPSA.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the serum levels of beta2-microglobulin (beta2M), neopterin (NP), TNF-alpha and soluble receptors of TNF-alpha (sTNF-R55 and sTNF-R75) and interleukin-2 (sIL-2R) in a population of intravenous drug abusers according to whether or not they had HIV-1 infection and to the stage of the HIV-1 infection. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed at four drug detoxification centers in Barcelona, and the HIV outpatient clinic at Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. Three cohorts of intravenous drug abusers (IVDAs)-105 HIV-1-uninfected patients (cohort A), 174 with asymptomatic HIV-1 infection (cohort B) and 39 with AIDS (cohort C)-were enrolled. On the first visit, the following laboratory tests were performed: hemogram and platelet count, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-hepatitis C antibodies, B2M, NP, sIL-2R, TNF-alpha, and TNF receptors (sTNF-R55 and sTNF-R75). RESULTS: The three cohorts were homogeneous according to sex, type of drug, average number of intravenous doses of drug in 1 day, and hepatitis B infection. Patients with AIDS were older than those of cohort A and B (p<0.0001). HIV-negative IVDAs were co-infected with hepatitis C virus less frequently than were HIV-positive IVDAs (80% versus 91%, p<0.03). Among HIV-1-negative IVDAs (cohort A), almost all (from 86% to 95%, depending on the marker) individual values were within the normal boundaries of our laboratory. With a single exception (level of sTNF-R55 in cohort B compared with cohort A, p=0.15), levels of all markers were significantly higher in asymptomatic HIV-1-infected (cohort B) when compared with uninfected patients (cohort A), and in AIDS patients (cohort C) when compared with both cohorts A and B. There was a significant positive correlation between levels of ss2M and NP (r=0.56; p<0.01), ss2M and TNF (r=0.65, p<0.01) and NP and TNF (r=0.76, p<0.01). There was no correlation between levels of sIL-2R and levels of ss2M, NP or TNF and its receptors. CONCLUSIONS: Intravenous drug abuse does not modify serum levels of ss2M, NP, sIL-2R, TNF-alpha, and TNF receptors (sTNF-R55 and sTNF-R75). Levels of these markers increase significantly when an HIV-1 infection occurs and when there is progression to AIDS.