[Pregnancy-associated alpha 2-glycoprotein in patients with gynecologic cancer]

Pregnancy-associated alpha 2-glycoprotein (alpha 2-PAG) levels were measured in human sera by a modification of Laurell's electroimmunoassay using rabbit anti-alpha 2-PAG serum. Sera were obtained from healthy controls (68 females), patients with myoma uteri (25 cases), patients with benign ovarian tumors (23 cases) and patients with cervical (19 cases), endometrial (4 cases) or ovarian (23 cases) cancers. The mean values of alpha 2-PAG in patients with myoma uteri (7.3 +/- 2.3U/microliters), benign ovarian tumors (5.0 +/- 3.1U/microliters), cervical cancer (8.8 +/- 4.4U/microliters), endometrial cancer (17.5 +/- 7.6U/microliters) and ovarian cancer (12.0 +/- 4.0U/microliters) were statistically significantly higher than that of controls (2.0 +/- 2.8U/microliters). Elevated levels of alpha 2-PAG were found in sera of 44% patients with myoma uteri, 17% of benign ovarian tumors, 63% of cervical cancer, 100% of endometrial cancer and 83% of ovarian cancer. Elevation of alpha 2-PAG was recognized in 100% patients with endometrial cancer and in 67% patients with ovarian cancer in stage I, while no patient with cervical cancer in stage I showed elevated alpha 2-PAG. No clear relationship of the alpha 2-PAG levels with the stages of the patients nor with the histological types of tumor was found. Serial alpha 2-PAG determination appeared to provide a useful marker in cancer patients. The measurement of serum alpha 2-PAG is recommended as an addition to the conventional diagnostic system.