A clinical evaluation of serological diagnosis for pancreatic cancer

AIM:To assess the diagnostic values of tumor markers for pancreatic cancer.METHODS:Pancreatic cancer-associated antigen from colonic mucosa (PCAAc), pancreas-specific antigen (PaA), pancreatic oncofetal antigen (POA) and minimolecular pancreatic antigen (mPOA) were detected by double antibodies Sandwich ELISA; CA19-9,elastase 1 (E1), human pancreatic elastase 1 (HPE1) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) by radioimmunoassay (RIA); general activities of ribo-nuclease (RNase) and its isoenzymes (RNase I and RNase I) by biochemistry and PAEG;glycylproline dipeptidyl aminopeptidase (GPDA) by biochemistry andalpha 1-antitrypsin (alpha1AT) by rocket immunoelectrophoresis (rocket-IE).RESULTS:The detection of serum POA,mPOA,PaA,PCAAc,CA19-9,RNase and RNase I was able to differentiate pancreatic cancer from the benign disorders and non-pancreatic malignancies with a sensitivity from 66.75% to 80.0% and a specificity from 88.5% to 96.69%. POA, mPOA, PCAAc, HPE1, E1 and GPDA were related to the pancreatic cancer at the head which demonstrated higher sensitivity from 63.64% to 85.71%. The detection of serum HPE1 was especially helpful for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer with smaller diameters. The determination of 3 or 4 kinds of tumor markers simultaneously would increase the detection rate of pancreatic cancer, which will be an important procedure for the diagnosis of this malignancy.CONCLUSION:A single test of tumor markers is helpful to detect pancreatic cancer clinically,but the determination of 3 or 4 kinds of tumor markers simultaneously would significantly increase the detection rate of pancreatic cancer, which will be an important procedure for the diagnosis of this malignancy.