The serum assay of soluble CD44 standard (sCD44-st), CD44 splice variant 5 (sCD44-v5), and CD44 splice variant 6 (sCD44-v6) in patients with cervical cancer.

The pretreatment serum levels of soluble CD44 standard (sCD44st), CD44 splice variant 5 (sCD44-v5), and CD44 splice variant 6 (sCD44-v6) were retrospectively measured in 37 patients with untreated cervical cancer and in 36 patients with benign gynecological diseases as controls. Median sCD44-st levels were significantly higher in patients with cervical cancer than in controls (547 ng/ml, range 244-880 ng/ml versus 400.5 ng/ml, range 217-723 ng/ml, p = 0.004), whereas sCD44-v5 and sCD44-v6 concentrations were significantly lower in the former (34 ng/ml, range 0-140 ng/ml versus 44 ng/ml, range 11-109 ng/ml, p = 0.038; and 37 ng/ml, range 1-191 ng/ml versus 52.5 ng/ml, range 11-173 ng/ml, p = 0.007, respectively). sCD44-st, sCD44-v5, and sCD44-v6 levels were not related to FIGO stage and histologic type. Moreover, among patients with stage Ib-IIa cervical cancer, the preoperative levels of these glycoproteins correlated with neither the common prognostic variables nor the clinical outcome. Therefore, the serum assay of sCD44-st, sCD44-v5, and sCD44-v6 seems to have no clinical relevance for the management of patients with cervical cancer.