Cancer Res Treat.  2013 Mar;45(1):48-54.

Prognostic Value of Different Patterns of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen Level for the Recurrent Cervical Cancer

• Jeong BK
• Huh SJ
• Choi DH
• Park W
• Bae DS
• Kim BG

Abstract

PURPOSE
In some unusual cases, in patients with cervical cancer, an elevation of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) was not observed at diagnosis but was observed on recurrence, or vice versa. The objective of this study was to identify patient-, disease-, and treatment-related factors associated with this unusual level of SCC-Ag, and to determine whether SCC-Ag is a useful tumor marker in such patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Among 129 patients with recurrence, 14 who showed a normal SCC-Ag level at diagnosis but an elevated level at recurrence were classified as group I; 22 patients with an elevated SCC-Ag level at diagnosis but not at recurrence were classified as group II; and 76 patients with an elevated SCC-Ag level at both diagnosis and recurrence were classified as group III.
RESULTS
In univariate analysis, unusual SCC-Ag showed statistically significant relationships with pathology and biochemical response to treatment. However, in the multivariate analysis, none of the clinicopathologic factors showed a statistical relationship with unusual levels of SCC-Ag. The 5-year disease-free survival rates for groups I, II, and III were 7.1%, 9.1%, and 0% (p=0.418), and the 5-year overall survival rates were 34.3%, 58.4%, and 33.3% (p=0.142), respectively.
CONCLUSION
The value of SCC-Ag has been confirmed in all patients; thus, check of SCC-Ag level at follow-up should be considered. Although no statistically significant differences were observed among the groups, we conclude that patients with a high initial SCC-Ag and elevated SCC-Ag at relapse have poor prognosis due to high SCC-Ag level.

Keyword

Uterine cervical neoplasms; Squamous cell carcinoma-related antigen; Biological tumor markers

MeSH Terms

Antigens, Neoplasm
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell
Disease-Free Survival
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Multivariate Analysis
Prognosis
Recurrence
Serpins
Survival Rate
Biomarkers, Tumor
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
Antigens, Neoplasm
Serpins

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of patient groups.

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