[Clinical study on aldolase isoenzyme--the development of the method of cancer diagnosis with muscle type aldolase (author's transl)].

A specific radioimmunoassay was developed for the quantitation of human muscle type aldolase (M-ALD) in human serum. The amount of M-ALD antigen present in 135 sera from normal healthy subjects, noncancer patients and cancer patients was determined. The serum M-ALD value for the 41 normal healthy subjects averaged 171 +/- 39 ng/ml and they had a range from 130 ng/ml to 210 ng/ml. In 33 noncancer hospital patients, excluding patients with muscle diseases, the serum M-ALD values averaged 164 ng/ml and had a range of 125 to 220 ng/ml. In contrast the 61 cancer patients had serum M-ALD values which averaged 586 ng/ml and had a range of 85 to 5800 ng/ml. Eighty two percent of the cancer patients had serum concentrations of M-ALD which were outside of the normal range. The CEA value was determined in the serum of the cancer patients and thirty five percent of the patients had elevated serum concentrations. The measurement of M-ALD values in human serum may be an additional laboratory test in the diagnosis and follow up of the cancer patients.