Elevated pretreatment squamous cell Carcinoma Antigen indicates unfavorable treatment outcomes in cervical cancer patients receiving definitive radiotherapy.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prognostic value of pretreatment squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC Ag) levels for treatment failure prediction in patients with cervical cancer.

METHODS

A quantity of 985 patients satisfying the eligibility criteria were included, with a median follow-up duration of 63.7 months. The optimal cutoff value for pretreatment SCC Ag levels was verified by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Five-year disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and local control (LC) rates were evaluated utilizing the Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model was implemented to recognize independent prognostic predictors.

RESULTS

The optimal pretreatment SCC Ag cutoff value was 8.85 ng/mL. Patients with pretreatment SCC Ag levels ≥ 8.85 ng/mL presented significantly inferior 5-year DFS (63.8% vs. 81.8%), OS (71.7% vs. 88.7%), and LC (80.5% vs. 91.0%) compared to those with levels < 8.85 ng/mL (all < 0.001). The results of the multivariate analysis indicated that the pretreatment SCC Ag level was an independent predictor of treatment failure (HR,1.772; 95% CI, 1.366 to 2.299; < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Pretreatment SCC Ag is an effective prognostic factor in patients with cervical cancer undergoing definitive radiotherapy, with a ROC-identified cutoff value of 8.85 ng/mL and elevated SCC Ag indicates unfavorable outcomes.