• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2001

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the significance of serum SCC antigen, CA 19-9, CA 125 level and DNA microsatellite alterations (MSA) as prognostic factors and indicators for recurrences in the pre-treatment and post-treatment state, respectively in head and neck cancer patients. Materials and Methods: 120 patients who received curative treatment for head and neck cancer from 1995 to 2000 were followed up successfully, and were analyzed retrospectively. Thirty healthy subjects served as normal controls. Serum SCC Ag levels were measured by microparticle enzyme immunoassay technique via IMX SCC assay, CA 19-9 levels were measured by CA 19-9 RIA test kit, and CA 125 levels were measured by CA 125 IRMA kit. MSA were identified after PCR amplification. Heterozygosity was considered lost if the ratio of one allele was significantly decreased (>50%) in serum DNA compared with normal DNA from lymphocytes. Results: Preoperative tumor markers were higher in cancer patients than control, but not significant. Postoperative SCC Ag levels were lower than preoperative levels. The SCC Ag levels were remained low in no evidence of disease (NED) group, but increased in locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis group. CA 19-9 and CA 125 levels showed no correlation between levels and recurrences and were not decreased significantly after primary tumor removal. MSA were detected in five out of 21 cases, and highly detected in distant metastasis group. Conclusion: SCC Ag seems to be a helpful serum tumor marker for early detection of recurrence and distant metastasis of head and neck cancer after curative treatment. But, CA 19-9 and CA 125 were not reliable markers for head and neck tumors. MSA were not statistically significant because of the small number of study group. However they may be helpful for screening serum molecular markers for early detection of distant metastasis of head and neck cancers.

• CELLMED
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.24.1-24.3
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• 2023

Objective: A case report on the improvement of adenomyosis using cell correction nutritional therapy. Methods: A 39-year-old Korean woman who experienced severe dysmenorrhea after childbirth and had elevated levels of cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) during recent regular check-up. Results: Application of nutritional therapy resulted in relief of dysmenorrhea, elimination of oxidized blood, and reduction in CA-125 levels. Conclusion: Nutritional therapy can be helpful in alleviating symptoms and assisting in the treatment of patients with adenomyosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.101-105
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• 2014

Background and Purpose: Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) has been suggested to be a novel biomarker of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The present study aimed to evaluate and compare HE4 with the commonly used marker, carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), in prediction and therapy-monitoring of EOC. Patients and Methods: Serum HE4 concentrations from 123 ovarian cancer patients and 174 controls were measured by Roche electrochemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA). Risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA) values were calculated and assessed. In addition, the prospects of HE4 detection for therapy-monitoring were evaluated in EOC patients. Results: The ROMA score could classify patients into high- and low-risk groups with malignancy. Indeed, lower serum HE4 was significantly associated with successful surgical therapy. Specifically, 38 patients with EOC exhibited a greater decline of HE4 compared with CA125. In contrast, elevation of HE4 better predicted recurrence (of 46, 11 patients developed recurrence, and with it increased HE4 serum concentrations) and a poor prognosis than CA125. Conclusions: This study suggests that serum HE4 levels are closely associated with outcome of surgical therapy and disease prognosis in Chinese EOC patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.151-157
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• 2014

Objective: To evaluate the association between the severity of endometriosis and the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and serum level of cancer antigen 125 (CA 125). Methods: Data were obtained from the medical records of 419 patients who underwent laparoscopic conservative surgery for ovarian endometrioma between April 2005 and March 2013. Each patient's preoperative complete blood count was recorded and the endometriosis score was assessed. Results: The endometriosis score was not associated with either the NLR or the serum level of CA 125. The endometriosis score was negatively related to preoperative hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. The only positive association was between NLR and the patients' age. NLR and preoperative serum anti-M$\ddot{u}$llerian hormone level were found to be negatively related. Conclusion: The severity of endometriosis was not associated with the serum level of CA 125 or the NLR. The presence of a negative correlation between the severity of endometriosis and red blood cell dynamics needs further investigation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1027-1030
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• 2013

Background: Peritoneal washing cytology (PWC) that shows the microscopic intra-peritoneal spread of gynaecologic cancers is not used in staging but is known as prognostic factor and effective in planning the intensity of the therapy. False negative or false positive results clearly affect the ability to make the best decision for therapy. In this study we assessed levels of tumour markers, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) and carbohydrate antigen (CA19-9), in peritoneal washing fluid to establish any possible contribution to the peritoneal washing cytology in patients operated for gynaecologic cancer. Materials and Methods: Preoperative tumour markers were studied in serum of blood samples obtained from the patients for preoperative evaluation of a gynaecologic operation. In the same group peritoneal tumour markers were studied in the washing fluid obtained for intraoperative cytological evaluation. Results: This study included a total of 94 patients, 62 with malignant and 32 with benign histopathology. The sensitivity of the cytological examination was found to be 21% with a specificity of 100%. When evaluated with CEA the sensitivity of the cytological examination has increased to 37%. Conclusions: In addition to examination of PWC, the level of CEA, a tumour marker, in peritoneal washing fluid can make a diagnostic contribution. Determining the level of CEA in peritoneal washing fluid will be useful in the management of gynaecologic cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4891-4894
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• 2015

Background: To evaluate the value of combined detection of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1), and carbohydrateantigen 125 (CA125) for the clinical diagnosis of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: Serum CEA, CYFRA21-1 and CA125 were assessed in 140 patients with NSCLC, 90 patients with benign lung disease and 90 normal control subjects, and differences of expression were compared in each group, and joint effects of these tumor markers in the diagnosis of NSCLC were analyzed. Results: Serum CEA, CYFRA21-1 and CA125 in patients with NSCLC were significantly higher than those with benign lung disease and normal controls (P<0.05). The sensitivity of CEA, CYFRA21-1 and CA125 were 49.45%, 59.67%, and 44.87% respectively. As expected, combinations of these tumor markers improved their sensitivity for NSCLC. The combined detection of CEA + CYFRA21-1 was the most cost-effective combination which had higher sensitivity and specificity in NSCLC. Elevation of serum CEA and CYFRA21-1 was significantly associated with pathological types (P<0.05) and elevation of serum CEA, CYFRA21-1 and CA125 was significantly associated with TNM staging (P<0.05). Conclusions: Single measurement of CEA, CYFRA21-1 and CA125 is of diagnostic value in the diagnosis of lung cancer, and a joint detection of these three tumor markers, could greatly improve the sensitivity of diagnosis on NSCLC. Combined detection of CEA + CYFRA21-1 proved to be the most economic and practical strategy in diagnosis of NSCLC, which can be used to screen the high-risk group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1489-1492
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• 2016

Background: Although there are no biomarkers that are routinely used in endometrial cancer (EC) management, many studies have found that serum human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is superior to cancer antigen 125 (CA125) in the detection of EC. The correlation of HE4 with two prognostic factors for EC, primary tumor diameter (PTD) and depth of myometrial invasion (DMI) may be useful in identifying EC patients at high risk of lymphatic dissemination. Objective: To evaluate the correlation of serum HE4 with PTD and DMI in patients with EC. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 70 EC patients who were scheduled for elective surgery at Rajavithi Hospital between 1st September 2013 and 30th May 2014. Preoperative serum levels of HE4 and CA125 were investigated, and then gross measurement of PTD was taken and postoperative pathologic slides were reviewed for DMI including histologic types, grading and staging. Results: Preoperative serum HE4 levels were strongly correlated with PTD (r=0.65, p<0.001) and moderately correlated with DMI (r=0.46, p<0.001). Moreover, serum HE4 levels were significantly elevated in EC patients with PTD >2 cm (p<0.001) and DMI > 50% (p=0.004). The performance of serum HE4 in identifying EC patients at low risk and high risk of lymph node metastasis was significantly better than that of CA125 (AUC 0.88 vs. 0.65, p=0.003). At an optimal cut-off value of 70 pM/L, serum HE4 had a sensitivity of 83.3% and a specificity of 80.0%. Conclusions: In EC patients, preoperative serum HE4 is significantly correlated with PTD and DMI. Serum HE4 levels could be useful in identifying endometrial cancer patients at high risk of lymphatic spread who would benefit from systemic lymphadenectomy at the cut-off value of 70 pM/L.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.3003-3007
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• 2015

Objective: To explore the application of multiplex nested methylated specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the early diagnosis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). Materials and Methods: Serum and fresh tissue samples were collected from 114 EOC patients. RUNX3, TFPI2 and OPCML served as target genes. Methylation levels of tissues were assessed by multiplex nested methylated specific PCR, the results being compared with those for carcinoma antigen 125 (CA125). Results: The serum free deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) methylation spectrum of EOC patients was completely contained in the DNA spectrum of cancer tissues, providing an accurate reflection of tumor DNA methylation conditions. Serum levels of CA125 and free DNA methylation in the EOC group were evidently higher than those in benign lesion and control groups (p<0.05). Patients with early EOC had markedly lower serum CA125 than those with advanced EOC (p<0.05), but there was no significant difference in free DNA methylation (p>0.05). The sensitivity, specificity and positive predicative value (PPV) of multiplex nested methylated specific PCR were significantly higher for detection of all patients and those with early EOC than those for CA125 (p<0.05). In the detection of patients with advanced EOC, the PPV of CA125 detection was obviously lower than that of multiplex nested methylated specific PCR (p>0.05), but there was no significant difference in sensitivity (p>0.05). Conclusions: Serum free DNA methylation can be used as a biological marker for EOC and multiplex nested methylated specific PCR should be considered for early diagnosis since it can accurately determine tumor methylation conditions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.661-666
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• 2015

Background: Postoperative carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) is an independent predictor of survival for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and more powerful than preoperative CA19-9. However, making decisions just dependent on postoperative CA19-9 may result in necessary treatments not being performed. Materials and Methods: A total of 178 patients with resected PDAC were eligible for this retrospective study, classified into two corresponding subgroups according to postoperative CA19-9. Prognostic significance of all clinicopathologic factors was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Postoperative CA19-9, preoperative CA125 and lymph node status were independent predictors. Better predictive performances for overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were achieved by postoperative CA19-9 compared to preoperative CA125 and lymph node status. Particularly, preoperative CA125 was associated with poor OS (p<0.001 for the normalized CA19-9 patients, p=0.012 for the elevated) and RFS (p=0.005 for the normalized, p=0.004 for the elevated). Moreover, preoperative CA125 levels related with survival in double-negative patients. Conclusions: Normalization of CA19-9 is not tantamount to be cured. Preoperative CA125 is a critical predictor for PDAC patients, especially in double-negative patients.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 1997

Taxol, an anticancer drug that has diterpenoid conformation, has been used as an effective chemotherapeutical agent in the treatment of breast and ovarian cancers. Because of its toxicity like other anticancer drugs, monitoring the taxol level in serum is important procedure during cancer therapy. The various monitoring methods using HPLC, ELISA, and RIA have been adopted, and RIA technique is known to be superior than other methods in trems of sensitivity and convenience. In this study, in order to develope taxol RIA system using $^{125}$I labelled antigen, first of all we synthesized taxol derivatives. 2'-hemisuccinyltaxol was obtained with about 80％ yield by esterification of taxol at C-2' hydroxyl group on C-13 carbon with succinic anhydride. [$^{125}$I]iodotyramine was prepared with 58％ labelling yield by radioiodination of tyramine and purified by gel chromatography. 2'-[$^{125}$I]iodotyramine-hemisuninyltaxol, $^{125}$I labelled antigen for taxol RIA, was synthesized with 96% yield from conjugation of 2'-hemisuccinyltaxol and [$^{125}$I]iodotyramine. Anti-taxol serum was produced from the rabbit immunized with 2'-hemisuccinyltaxol-BSA synthesized by 2'-hemisuccinyltaxol and BSA. The antiserum titer was determined by RIA using 2'-[$^{125}$I]iodotyramine-hemisuccinyltaxol. The titer of 1:20 was obtained with about 40% of B/T. The results suggest that taxol RIA using $^{125}$I labelled antigen can be applied to monitor the taxol level in serum.