Clinical value of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-A) in Egyptian gynecologic cancer patients.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen levels were measured by immunoparticle assay (IMx) in the sera of 32 patients with gynecologic malignancies, 15 with benign diseases of the genital system and 14 normal healthy controls. At a cut-off value of 4.8 ng/ml (100% specificity), the rate of SCC antigen elevation was 100% in vulvar and vaginal cancer (n = 5), 90% in ovarian cancer (n = 10), 60.0% in endometrial cancer (n = 10) and 57.2% in cervical cancer (n = 7). The benign disease's group had 80.0% false positivity at the same cut-off value. Serum SCC-A was found to correlate directly with the clinical stage of disease. A sensitivity of 73.3% was obtained at stage I which gives SCC-A a role in screening the high risk population for gynecological cancer. Concerning the histopathologic type of tumor, serum SCCA was highly sensitive in SCC tumors, in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma and in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.