International Journal of
Cancer and Clinical Research
Research Article: Open Access
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Citation: Hegazy MW, Elsawy WH, Tolba A, Shoukri M (2016) Cancer Antigen 125 Levels can
be Used as a Tumor Marker for Monitoring Patients with Endometrial Serous Carcinoma?. Int
J Cancer Clin Res 3:075
Received: October 31, 2016: Accepted: November 28, 2016: Published: December 01, 2016
Copyright: © 2016 Hegazy MW, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Hegazy et al. Int J Cancer Clin Res 2016, 3:075
ISSN: 2378-3419
Volume 3 | Issue 6
Cancer Antigen 125 Levels can be Used as a Tumor Marker for Moni-
toring Patients with Endometrial Serous Carcinoma?
MW Hegazy
1,2
*, Wael H Elsawy
2
, A Tolba
3
and M Shoukri
4
1
Department of Radiation Oncology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Saudi Arabia
2
Department of Clinical Oncology & Nuclear Medicine, Zagazig Faculty of Medicine, Egypt
3
Department of pathology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Saudi Arabia
4
Department of Cell biology & Biotechnology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Saudi Arabia
*Corresponding author: Mohamed W Hegazy, Department of Radiation Oncology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital &
Research Center, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, PO Box 3354, Riyadh 11211 MBC 64, Saudi Arabia, Tel: 966550742859,
E-mail: mhegazy@kfshrc.edu.sa
than type I tumors. While they comprise 10-20% of endometrial
carcinomas, they account for 40% of deaths from the disease [3-5].
USAC may develop from endometrial intraepithelial carcinoma
(EIC), a lesion related to malignant transformation of the endometrial
surface epithelium, against a background of endometrial atrophy
[6,7]. However, EIC was commonly found in association with
extrauterine serous carcinoma, with both sites having identical
clones of p53 mutations [8]. Tis fnding suggests that EIC represents
an early form of USAC rather than its true precursor [9]. A relatively
new entity, “endometrial glandular dysplasia”, which histologically
bridges benign endometrium and EIC, may be the putative precursor
lesion to USC [10].
USAC is a more aggressive histologic variant of malignant
epithelial tumors, with a higher incidence of extrauterine disease
at presentation [11-13]. Serous adenocarcinoma is considered high
grade by default, although it is staged using the same FIGO/AJCC
staging system as endometrial cancers [14]. Both the NCCN panel
and the SGO recommended that CA-125 and MRI/CT may be useful
before surgery to assess if extrauterine disease is present; PET may
also be useful. Patterns of failure ofen mimic those of ovarian cancer
[11]. Multimodality therapy is typically recommended for this tumors
[15,16]. Optimal cytoreduction and adjuvant platinum/taxane-
based chemotherapy appear to improve survival, while adjuvant
radiotherapy may contribute to loco-regional disease control [11].
Te 5-year survival rate for all stages of USAC is only 53%
compared with 83% for endometrioid carcinoma [17]. Several
studies have shown a correlation between preoperative levels of CA-
125 and presence of extrauterine disease at the time of surgery as
well as advanced stage and survival in women with USAC [18-21].
Serum CA-125 levels in USAC have been assessed in many previous
studies [19-26] and their surveillance may be a useful indicator of
disease response or progression [19,26]. Te aim of our study was to
evaluate the clinical signifcance of rising CA-125 levels in patients
with USAC.
Abstract
Aim: To determine the levels of CA-125 preoperative, postoperative
and during follow up of patients with uterine serous adenocarcinoma
(USAC) and evaluate its role as a tumor marker or not in these
patients by its level changes on staging, cure and recurrence.
Methods: Database was reviewed for all USAC patients. Thirty
three patients who were treated and had serial CA-125 (normal
level up to 35 U/ml) from 2007 to 2014 at our institution were
included in this study.
Results: With mean follow up of 26 months, there are 7 patients
with initial normal CA-125 with only intrauterine disease and 26
patients with initial high CA-125 with extrauterine disease (p value
0.024). Mean follow up of early stage was 42 months while late
stage was 20 months (p 0.019).With doubling levels of CA-125,
there was a statistical signifcant effect on follow up period (p 0.027).
In early stage, 3 out of 9 patients had recurrence; while 13 out of
17 patients in advanced stage, post therapy after normalization of
CA-125 (p = 0.04), all recurrent cases had high CA-125 (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Our study with these fndings showed that
preoperative and serial levels of serum CA-125 correlate with
disease stage, follow up period and may be having clinical
signifcant and preceding disease recurrence and /or progression.
Keywords
CA125, Endometrial serous carcinoma
Background
Uterine cancer is the most common malignancy of the female
genital tract in the United States [1], a situation which is similar at
our institution [2].
Endometrial adenocarcinoma is the most common type of
uterine cancer. Endometrial cancer is classifed into two subtypes (I
and II), which refect general characteristics of its clinicopathological
spectrum. Uterine serous adenocarcinoma (USAC) is under Type
II neoplasms which are associated with more aggressive behavior