Serum Squamous Carcinoma Cell Antigen Detection And Its Significance In Cervical Squamous Carcinoma Patients

Objectives: To investigate the concentration of serum squamous carcinoma cellantigen (SCC-Ag) and its clinical significance.Methods: One hundred and twenty-nine blood samples of cervical squamouscarcinoma patients were collected in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department ofDalian Medical University between January2008and December2011. Serum SCC-Agconcentration was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and itsclinical significance was retrospectively explored.Results:1. Higher pre-treatment serum SCC-Ag concentration (>1.5ng/ml) wassignificantly correlated with clinical stages of cervical cancer (r=0.362, P<0.01),andwas correlated with tumor size, muscle layer infiltration depth, parauterine infiltration,lymph node invasion.2.The ROC AUC for the prediction of parauterine infiltration by serum SCC-Agconcentration was0.836(P=0.000,95%CI=0.625～1.048), with sensitivity is83.3%,specificity of83.6%and the highest Youden index (0.697) at the cutoff of2.175ng/ml.The ROC AUC for the prediction of lymph node invasion by serum SCC-Agconcentration is0.836(P=0.000,95%CI=0.697～0.950), with sensitivity was61.5%,specificity of91.4%and the highest Youden index (0.539) at the cutoff of3.54ng/ml.3.Serum SCC-Ag concentration serum SCC-Ag concentration was significantlyreduced after treatment (P<0.01), with a negative turnover rate of94.3%(33/35) threemonths after treatment. Cervical cancer patients with higher pretreatment serumSCC-Ag level and continuous positive serum SCC-Ag showed worse prognosis.Conclusions:1.As a squamous carcinoma-specific biomarker, serum SCC-Aglevel is significantly associated with cancer invasion, serving as an indicator of theextent of local infiltration. However, SCC-Ag was detected with much lower positive rate in early cervical squamous carcinoma (stage IA&IB1), which makes it not fit forearly screen and detection of cervical cancer.2.Serum SCC-Ag level is positivelycorrelated with disease progression. There is more probaly parauterine infiltration withSCC-Ag level>2.175ng/ml and lymph node invasion with SCC-Ag level>3.54ng/mlrespectively.3. The half life of serum SCC-Ag is short. The fluctuation of serumSCC-Ag level is parallel to that of cervical cancer progression, making it as a goodbiomarker of evaluating treatment response, assessing prognosis and detecting diseaserecurrence.