Bhatnagar J, Tewari H B, Bhatnagar M, Austin G E
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Atlanta, GA 30033, USA.
Anticancer Res. 1999 May-Jun;19(3B):2181-7.
Serial plasma carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels are routinely used to detect postoperative recurrence of colon cancers. However, levels of intrinsic CEA production by individual tumors, which might be helpful for interpreting serum CEA levels, are not routinely available.
CEA levels were determined in twenty tissue biopsy specimens of colon carcinoma and sixteen normal colonic tissue specimens from India, by immunohistochemistry (IH) and by quantitative enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Serum samples from 62 colon cancer patients and 25 healthy blood donors were analyzed for CEA by EIA.
Tissue CEA levels were highest for well differentiated adenocarcinomas (5.2-37 micrograms/g protein) with progressively lower levels seen in moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated tumors, and in normals. The intensity of immunostaining paralleled the levels determined quantitatively. Mean serum CEA levels were 1.5 ng/ml for normals and 4.2, 6.4, 23, and 102 ng/ml for Dukes' A, B, C and D stage tumors, respectively.
Preoperative serum CEA levels do not, in themselves, take into account differences in CEA production between individual tumors. Determination of tumor CEA content by quantitative or immunohistochemical methods, could be a useful adjunct for the clinical management of colon carcinoma, by improving interpretation of serum CEA levels.
连续检测血浆癌胚抗原（CEA）水平常用于检测结肠癌术后复发情况。然而，个体肿瘤产生CEA的内在水平通常无法获取，而这可能有助于解释血清CEA水平。
采用免疫组织化学（IH）和定量酶免疫测定法（EIA），对来自印度的20份结肠癌组织活检标本和16份正常结肠组织标本进行CEA水平测定。采用EIA法对62例结肠癌患者和25名健康献血者的血清样本进行CEA分析。
高分化腺癌的组织CEA水平最高（5.2 - 37微克/克蛋白质），中分化和低分化肿瘤以及正常组织中的CEA水平逐渐降低。免疫染色强度与定量测定结果一致。正常人群的平均血清CEA水平为1.5纳克/毫升，Dukes'A、B、C和D期肿瘤患者的平均血清CEA水平分别为4.2、6.4、23和102纳克/毫升。
术前血清CEA水平本身并未考虑个体肿瘤之间CEA产生的差异。通过定量或免疫组化方法测定肿瘤CEA含量，有助于更好地解释血清CEA水平，可能成为结肠癌临床管理的有用辅助手段。
