A clinical evaluation of monoclonal (CA19-9, CA50, CA12-5) and polyclonal (CEA, TPA) antibody-defined antigens for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

We measured in 193 patients, admitted to our wards for symptoms and signs suggestive of pancreatic or digestive malignancy, the serum levels of five tumor-associated antigens (CA 19-9, CA 50, CA 125, TPA, CEA) and we evaluated their diagnostic accuracy both when used alone and in combination. For CA 19-9 and CA 50 a sensitivity for pancreatic cancer as high as 92 and 88%, respectively, and specificity of 91.8% were found. A lower sensitivity vs. pancreatic cancer was found for the other tumor markers, and vs. the other digestive and nondigestive malignancies for all tumor markers (apart for CA 19-9 and CA 50 vs. biliary carcinomas). As for the combined assays, the best figures were found vs. pancreatic cancer for CA 19-9 plus CA 50, CA 50 plus CEA, CA 50 plus CA 125; a sensitivity by far worse vs. the other gastrointestinal cancers was found for all the possible combinations. We conclude that in selected symptomatic patients some tumor-marker determinations can be useful in identifying those with a high probability of harboring a pancreatic cancer, to be further studied or operated upon. The clinical relevance of this in patients already symptomatic is at present unclear.