Tumor-related elevation of serum (alpha 1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase activity in gastric cancer.

(alpha 1----3)-L-Fucosyltransferase activity was measured in serum samples from 90 gastric cancer patients, 10 patients with benign diseases and 100 healthy controls. The enzyme activity was significantly elevated in the serum samples of patients with cancer compared to those from patients with benign diseases (P less than 0.01) and healthy controls (P less than 0.001). The elevation of the enzyme activity was found to correlate strongly with the clinical stage of disease. The sensitivity of (alpha 1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase was also demonstrated to be high in comparison with the tumor-associated antigens, such as carcinoembryonic antigen and sialylated Lewis X-i. Follow-up studies of (alpha 1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase in 11 cancer patients with disease at different stages showed that the enzyme activity could be useful for monitoring the post-surgical course of the disease. These results suggest that (alpha 1----3)-L-fucosyltransferase activity has a clinically important potential as a tumor marker in gastric cancer.