Open AccessClinical Usefulness of CYFRA Assay in Diagnosing Lung Cancer: Measurement of Serum Cytokeratin Fragment
Author(s) -
Sugama Yasuo,
Kitamura Satoshi,
Kawai Tadashi,
Ohkubo Akiyuki,
Hasegawa Shizuo,
Kuriyama Takayuki,
Kato Harubumi,
Fukuoka Masahiro,
Ohkawa Jiro
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
japanese journal of cancer research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1349-7006
pISSN - 0910-5050
DOI - 10.1111/j.1349-7006.1994.tb02925.x
Subject(s) - cytokeratin , lung cancer , medicine , squamous cell carcinoma of the lung , pathology , carcinoma , stage (stratigraphy) , tumor marker , squamous carcinoma , cancer , epidermoid carcinoma , small cell carcinoma , lung , respiratory disease , adenocarcinoma , oncology , immunohistochemistry , biology , paleontology
We evaluated the diagnostic usefulness of measurement of the soluble cytokeratin 19 fragment, a new tumor marker, in 391 patients with lung cancer and in 424 patients with benign lung diseases. Serum concentrations of cytokeratin 19 fragment were measured by a sandwich ELISA (CYFRA). The cut‐off value was defined as 3.5 ng/ml, which is associated with a specificity of 85% for benign lung diseases. CYFRA had a high sensitivity (57.5%) in all subjects with lung carcinoma, and had a higher sensitivity for squamous cell carcinoma (73.1%, n = 141) than squamous cell carcinoma‐related antigen (61.0%). CYFRA was associated with a relatively high sensitivity (42.1%) in early‐stage squamous cell carcinoma (stage I, based on the classification of the Japan Lung Cancer Society), but the CYFRA titer was higher in advanced squamous cell carcinoma than in early‐stage squamous cell carcinoma. Our findings suggest that CYFRA is potentially useful for diagnosis and monitoring of lung carcinoma, especially for squamous cell carcinoma.