Serum CA153 as biomarker for cancer and noncancer diseases

CA153 was originally discovered as a tumor antigen recognized by two monoclonal antibodies DF3 and 115D8 simultaneously. Subsequent studies showed that DF3 recognizes the core protein of mucin1 (MUC1 or CD227) whereas 115D8 recognizes part of the glycan chains on MUC1. MUC1 is a highly glycosylated transmembrane protein expressed on the mucosal surfaces of epithelial cells in lung, breast, stomach, gallbladder, lymph node, colon, rectum, and pancreas. The increased serum levels of CA153 have been established as a biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis since 1980s. However, it is unknown if elevated serum CA153 levels were also associated with other cancers and noncancer diseases. In current study, a total of 19,789 clinical lab test results of serum CA153 levels from healthy individuals and patients with 30 different types of diseases during the past 5 years were retrieved and analyzed. According to the mean (SD), median, and p (-Log₁₀p) values calculated, we found that patients suffering lung, breast, ovarian cancers, nephrotic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, endometrial cancer, coronary heart disease, cervical cancer, uremia, and other 12 diseases plus healthy controls >65 years old had significantly (p<0.05, -Log₁₀p>1.30) increased median serum CA153 levels compared to that of healthy controls. Moreover, patients with lymphoma had the highest mean and the biggest SD value for serum CA153. Based on these data and the documented evidence, we proposed that the increased serum CA153 levels might be associated with pathological leakage of the epithelial cell product into the blood circulation in addition to the decreased CA153 clearance rate.