CA125 expression in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

The present study investigated the possible clinical significance of serum CA125 levels in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and the mechanism of secretion. Serum CA125 levels in 335 patients with NHL were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The tissue CA125 expression in 22 patients with NHL was performed on paraffin section by immunohistochemical methods. One hundred and ninety-eight cases (59.1%) were found to have elevated serum CA125 levels. Serum CA125 levels were associated with clinical stage, effusions, high serum lactate dehydrogenase and beta2-M levels, and response to therapy. Microscopically, immunohistochemical staining revealed that malignant tumor cells demonstrated negative CA125 expression in all of the 22 cases. Our results suggested that serum CA125 levels could be an interesting tumor marker in NHL. The immunohistochemical study suggested that CA125 appeared not to be secreted by lymphoma cells directly.