Simultaneous plasma determination of CEA, HCG-beta and beta-2-microglobulin in patients with nontrophoblastic tumors

With the object of studying the possible usefulness of the simultaneous plasma determination of CEA, HCG-beta and beta 2-microglobulin in patients with nontrophoblastic tumors, we measured by radioimmunoassay the concentrations of these substances in 77 patients with normal renal function. In the group without metastases (32 cases), the percentages of positives we low and similar for the 3 tumor markers. In the group with metastases (45 cases), the X2 test of independence between each of the 2 markers at a level of 95 % showed a relationship between the results obtained in the determination of HCG-beta and beta 2-microglobulin, as an independence between CEA and HCG-beta results and CEA and beta 2-microglobulin results. These data suggest the utility of determining CEA with only 1 of the other 2 antigens in disseminated tumors.