Search results for "tumor marker"
showing 10 items of 49 documents
Treatment of tumors of the pancreatic head with suspected but unproved malignancy: is a nihilistic approach justified?
1999
The aim of the present prospective observational study was to evaluate the accuracy of preoperative imaging studies and the outcome of patients after pancreaticoduodenectomy for suspected but unproved malignancy. Pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed in 186 patients with a suspected but histologically unproved malignancy of the pancreatic head: 86 with a ductal pancreatic carcinoma, 56 with a periampullary tumor, 18 with a cystadenocarcinoma, 13 with a rare malignant tumor or a metastasis, and 13 with a benign tumor. An accurate differentiation between a ductal pancreatic carcinoma and a nonductal tumor or a benign tumor was neither possible with tumor marker CA 19-9 nor with diagnostic ima…
CEA and CA19-9 measurement as a monitoring parameter in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) under palliative first-line chemotherapy with weekly 24-ho…
2001
Summary Background There have been contradictory reports on the benefit of CEA and CA 19-9 measurements in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer using palliative chemotherapy. The object of this study was to examine the diagnostic accuracy of monitoring of palliative chemotherapy by means of CEA and CA19-9. Patients and methods The tumour markers CEA and CA 19-9 were subjected to serial measurement in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (n = 90) using palliative first-line chemotherapy with weekly 24-hour infusion of high-dose 5-FU with FA and were compared with objective response according to WHO criteria. 85 patients could be evaluated. 43 patients (51%) initially had elevated…
Clinical evaluation of pancreatitis-associated protein as a serum marker of hepatocellular carcinoma: Comparison with α-fetoprotein
1998
This study evaluated the significance of serum pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP) assay, as a marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in comparison and combined with α-fetoprotein (AFP) assay. Sixty-five patients with HCC, 59 with liver cirrhosis (LC) and 68 asymptomatic controls (C) were studied. PAP and AFP values significantly increased from C to LC and HCC group (p < 0.0001). The area under receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the two markers was not statistically different. At 100% specificity, ROC analysis gave a cut-off level for AFP of 166 IU/l with 40% sensitivity, and a cut-off level of 240 µg/l for PAP with 23% sensitivity. Diagnostic accuracy of combined AFP…
GDF 15 as an anti-apoptotic, diagnostic and prognostic marker in oral squamous cell carcinoma
2011
Growth-differentiation factor 15 (GDF 15) is involved in tumor pathogenesis and its expression is increased in many types of cancers. Functional effects of GDF 15 on oncogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the apoptotic characteristics of GDF 15 in OSCC cell lines in vitro and to analyze serum GDF 15 concentrations as a diagnostic and prognostic tumor marker for OSCC in vivo. Caspase activity was assessed in OSCC cell lines with the Caspase-Glo 3/7 system. Serum GDF 15 concentrations from 64 patients with histopathological proven OSCC and from 30 healthy volunteers were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent a…
Cryotherapy for liver metastases
2000
Cryotherapy is undergoing a renaissance in the treatment of nonresectable liver tumors. In a prospective case control study we assessed the morbidity, mortality, and efficacy of hepatic cryotherapy for liver metastases. Between January 1996 and September 1999 a total of 54 cryosurgical procedures were performed on 49 patients (median age 66 years, 21 women) with liver metastases. Patient, tumor, and operative details were recorded prospectively. Liver metastases originated from colorectal cancer (n=37), gastric cancer (n=3), renal cell carcinoma (n=2), and other primaries (n=7). Median follow-up was 13 months (1-32). The median number of liver metastases was 3 (range 1-10) with a median dia…
Lysosomal aspartic and cysteine proteinases serum levels in patients with pancreatic cancer or pancreatitis
1997
Lysosomal cathepsins D (CD), B (CB), and L (CL) serum levels were determined by immunoassays in patients with chronic (CHP) or acute (AP) pancreatitis and in patients with ductal pancreatic carcinoma (DPC) and correlated with some biological and clinical parameters of this tumor. CB serum concentrations significantly higher than those measured in healthy subjects (NS) were observed in CHP, AP, and DPC patients (p < 0.01). However, no significant difference was noted among these groups. Increased CL serum levels were evident only in cancer patients compared to NS, AP, or CHP groups (p < 0.05), while no difference was observed among these groups. Elevated CD serum values were observed i…
Variability in the performance of nuclear matrix protein 22 for the detection of bladder cancer.
2006
PURPOSE: We assessed variability in the diagnostic performance of NMP22 for detecting recurrence and progression in patients with Ta, T1, and/or CIS transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in a large international cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: NMP22 voided urine levels were measured in 2,871 patients who underwent office cystoscopy for monitoring previous stage Ta, T1 and/or CIS transitional cell carcinoma at 12 participating institutions. RESULTS: Patient characteristics varied considerably among institutions. Overall 1,045 patients (36.4%) had recurrent transitional cell carcinoma (range across institutions 13.6% to 54.3%). Median NMP22 was 5.5 U/ml (range across institutions 2.5 to 1…
Droloxifene-Induced Spikes of Tumor Markers Predict Benefit of Therapy
1991
In the clinical monitoring of cancer, tumor marker proteins may reflect the status of the disease. In cases with radio- and chemotherapy, spikes of tumor markers were found shortly after starting the therapy. These spikes were interpreted as a sign of tumor lysis. Recently during therapy of breast cancer with the new antiestrogen droloxifene, spikes of CA 125 and CA 15-3 were also found in about one-third of patients responding to therapy. The peaks of these initial increases were recorded between 14 and 60 days after the onset of treatment, with maximum concentrations up to 1,890% of the initial value. Marker concentrations decreased thereafter, to new baselines at or below the initial val…
Tumour vascularization via endothelial differentiation of glioblastoma stem-like cells
2010
Glioblastoma is a highly angiogenetic malignancy, the neoformed vessels of which are thought to arise by sprouting of pre-existing brain capillaries. The recent demonstration that a population of glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs) maintains glioblastomas indicates that the progeny of these cells may not be confined to the neural lineage. Normal neural stem cells are able to differentiate into functional endothelial cells. The connection between neural stem cells and the endothelial compartment seems to be critical in glioblastoma, where cancer stem cells closely interact with the vascular niche and promote angiogenesis through the release of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and str…
Immunohistochemical Characterization of 130 Cases of Primary Hepatic Carcinomas
1987
Primary liver carcinoma (PLC) may express a certain number of markers. Here we communicate results of an analysis of five such markers (alpha-1-antitrypsin--AAT--, carcino-embryonic antigen --CEA--, alpha-fetoprotein --AFP--, and superficial --HBsAg-- and core --HBcAg-- antigens of hepatitis B virus) by means of PAP techniques in 130 cases of PLC, comparing the neoplastic tissue and the non-tumorous liver. Three variants of PLC are distinguished: hepatocarcinoma (HC) (108 cases); cholangiocarcinoma (CC) (19 cases); and three cases of hepatocholangiocarcinoma (HCC). AAT was positive in 29 HC, 2 HCC, and negative in all 19 CC. CEA appeared positive in 16 HC, 16 CC and only one HCC. AFP was po…