OBJECTIVE: The measurement of tumor-associated antigen as tumor makers in the serum is useful for early diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and the determination of remission after therapy in cases of malignancy. A tumor-associated antigen is not always present in all the cells forming the tumor and also be detected in other tumors or normal organs. Tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) is a single polypeptide chain without carbohydrate. TPA has immunosuppresive properties in patients with cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the cytokeratin tumor marker TPA in early diagnosis of patients with the gynecologic cancer. METHODS: In this study, the levels of TPA were measured in the serum of 61 patients with benign gynecologic tumors, 24 patients with malignant gynecologic neoplasms, and 38 healthy nonpregnant females. Serum TPA level was measured by a "sandwitch technique based" radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: As a result, serum TPA level was 30.4+/-7.6 U/L in control group, 32.6+/-9.4 U/L in benign gynecologic tumor group, 39.1+/-9.8 U/L in malignant gynecologic neoplasm. Serum TPA level was 56.6+/-7.0 U/L in ovarian cancer group. CONCLUSION: Serum levels of TPA was increased in the ovarian cancer group, but it does not seem to be a useful tumor maker for non-ovarian cancer. It would seem that measurement of TPA is useful for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Diagnosis, Differential ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Genital Neoplasms, Female ; Humans ; Keratins ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Radioimmunoassay ; Tissue Polypeptide Antigen*